Israeli occupation authorities compelled a Palestinian resident to demolish his own home on Saturday in the Sur Baher neighborhood, located southeast of the occupied Palestinian capital, Jerusalem, in the West Bank.
Local sources reported that Israeli authorities forced Fayez ‘Amira to dismantle his two-apartment home under the pretext of lacking proper building permits.
According to these sources, ‘Amira was not given prior warning about his property. Instead, he was shocked to receive a sudden notice from the municipality, granting him only a few hours to execute the demolition. This left him with no opportunity to appeal the orders.
It is a well-documented practice that Palestinians, especially in Jerusalem, are frequently coerced into demolishing their homes on the grounds of unapproved construction.
Those who refuse face the demolition of their properties by municipal bulldozers, which is often accompanied by exorbitant fines and additional charges to cover the costs if municipal workers and equipment are utilized for the demolition.
The municipality in Jerusalem systematically denies Palestinians the right to obtain building permits, leaving them with no alternative but to destroy their own homes or risk forcible demolition.
This policy, widely criticized as a violation of international laws and human rights standards that guarantee the right to housing, is seen as part of a deliberate strategy to forcibly displace Palestinians from Jerusalem. This process aims to expand Israeli settlements in the city and its surrounding areas.
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 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.”
