The Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem today razed a Palestinian-owned house in Sur Baher neighborhood, southeast of occupied East Jerusalem, according to local sources.
They said that a police force barged into the neighborhood and cordoned off a 50-square-meter house belonging to Baha al-Din Rabayaa, before a bulldozer demolished it, reducing it to rubble and displacing Baha’s family, which comprises of four members.
The structure was demolished purportedly for lacking the rarely-granted construction license.
Using the pretext of illegal building, Israel demolishes houses on a regular basis to restrict Palestinian expansion in occupied Jerusalem.
At the same time, the municipality and government build tens of thousands of housing units in illegal colonial settlements in East Jerusalem for Jews with a goal to offset the demographic balance in favor of the Jewish settlers in the occupied city.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)