Palestinian Forced by Israel to Self-Demolish Own Home in Occupied Jerusalem

Palestinian Forced by Israel to Self-Demolish Own Home in Occupied Jerusalem

Nader Jabr, a Palestinian citizen of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi al-Joz, demolishes his own home under pressure from the Israeli municipality. (Photo credit: Wadi Hilweh Information Center)

A Palestinian citizen from the occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi al-Joz embarked on Saturday on tearing down his own home after he was forced to do so by the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem to avoid paying exorbitant costs if the municipality carries out the demolition on its own.

Nader Jabr was quoted by WAFA news agency as stating that he was forced to demolish his own home under pressure from the Israeli municipality claiming it was built without a permit.

He said he had no choice but to demolish the home, which had been built about 40 years ago, to avoid paying unreasonable demolition costs to the Israeli municipality.

In addition, said Jabr, the demolition occurred despite the fact that his deceased mother and he had paid thousands of shekels in fines for the construction of the home to the Israeli municipality since the 1980s.

Palestinians in Jerusalem often find themselves with no choice but to build without a permit because getting a building permit is impossible as the right-wing all-Israeli city council attempts to keep the city’s Palestinian population at a bare minimum while multiplying its Jewish residents.

Almost 75 percent of applications for a permit by the Palestinian citizens of Jerusalem are rejected by the municipality, forcing many households to build without obtaining a permit and risk their homes being demolished, according to rights groups.

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