Israeli occupation authorities forced the Palestinian Jalajil family to demolish their own home in the Al‑Bustan neighborhood of Silwan, in occupied Jerusalem, after the family received a demolition order accompanied by threats of heavy fines and the high costs imposed when the municipality carries out demolitions itself.
The Jerusalemite resident Mohammad Jalajil began dismantling his home earlier this week to avoid the financial penalties routinely imposed on Palestinians who refuse to carry out self‑demolition orders.
The Israeli occupation municipality continues to deny Palestinians building permits in the occupied city, a long‑standing policy aimed at displacing Palestinian families in favor of Jewish Israeli colonizers.
The demolished home measured 60 square meters and was built in 2018. Jalajil lived in the structure with his wife and three children, who are now displaced.
On Monday, Israeli occupation bulldozers demolished two Palestinian homes and surrounding walls in the al‑Bustan neighborhood.
Residents of Al‑Bustan and the broader Silwan area have faced years of escalating pressure, including demolition orders, arrests, and repeated invasions by Israeli forces.
The neighborhood is one of the most targeted areas in occupied Jerusalem, where Israeli authorities seek to clear Palestinian homes to expand colonial tourism projects and settlement infrastructure.
The forced self‑demolition of the Jalajil home is part of a wider pattern in which Palestinian families are compelled to destroy their own properties to avoid exorbitant municipal fees, machinery costs, and potential imprisonment.
Human rights organizations have repeatedly stated that these policies amount to coercive displacement and form part of a systematic effort to alter the demographic character of the occupied city.
Dozens of homes in Al‑Bustan remain under threat, leaving families in a constant state of uncertainty as Israeli authorities continue to issue demolition notices and refuse to approve Palestinian building permits.
While Israel continues to build and expand its illegal colonies, Palestinian communities and towns in occupied Jerusalem and various areas in the occupied West Bank continue to be denied the right to build homes and property under various allegations meant to prevent the expansion of Palestinian towns and neighborhoods.
All of Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention, in addition to various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment and acts of terror against civilian populations.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
Articles 53 and 147, prohibit the destruction of civilian property and classify pillage as a war crime.
