On Friday, Israeli occupation authorities forced a Palestinian woman to demolish her own home in occupied Jerusalem, continuing the long‑standing policy of coercing Palestinian residents to carry out self‑demolitions under the pretext of lacking building permits.
The Jerusalem Governorate reported that Israeli forces compelled Awatif Mahmoud al‑Ghoul to tear down her home in Sweih neighborhood of the city to avoid the heavy fines and demolition fees imposed by the Israeli municipality if its crews carried out the demolition.
The family was forced to dismantle the structure themselves to prevent further financial penalties.
On Tuesday, Israeli authorities forced a Palestinian resident of Silwan, south of the Al‑Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, to demolish his own residential room.
Since the beginning of the year, Israeli forces have demolished more than 200 Palestinian homes and structures in occupied Jerusalem or forced their owners to do so under threat of exorbitant fines.
The policy is part of a broader system of restrictions that makes it nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits, while Israeli authorities continue to expand colonies and infrastructure for illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers.
Residents and rights groups describe the practice of coerced self‑demolition as a form of psychological and economic pressure aimed at displacing Palestinians from the city.
Those who refuse to demolish their own homes face the destruction of their property by Israeli machinery and the imposition of steep municipal fees, deepening the ongoing policy of forced displacement in occupied Jerusalem.
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.
