A Palestinian citizen of occupied East Jerusalem was forced last night by the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem to self-demolish his dwelling, according to local sources.
They said that Iqab Jaabis demolished his dwelling, which is composed of a container and a room made of tin, in Jabal al-Mukabber neighborhood of East Jerusalem, after the Israeli municipality issued a demolition order against them under the pretext they were built without a permit.
Palestinians self-demolish their homes to avoid paying exorbitant and arbitrary costs to the municipality if its employees carry out the demolition.
With getting a permit from the Israeli municipality to build in the occupied section of the holy city is almost impossible for its Palestinian citizens or very expensive and time consuming, Palestinians find themselves compelled to build without a permit to accommodate their growing numbers and take the risk of paying high fines and also demolition.
Israel attempts to limit Palestinian presence in the city to a bare minimum by denying them building permits with the hope they would eventually leave the city looking for better housing elsewhere while building tens of thousands of housing units in illegal Jewish-only settlements built on usurped Palestinian lands to tilt the demographic balance in the Jewish favor.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency