Two Palestinian residents of occupied Jerusalem were forced today to demolish their houses with their own hands to avoid paying high costs and fines after they received demolition orders from the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem, according to local sources.
In Jabal al- Mukaber area, resident Jamal Ajaj tore down his house with his own hands to avoid paying exorbitant costs if the Jerusalem municipality carries out the demolition on its own.
Meanwhile, Ezzat Zeyadeh was also forced to demolish his house to the southeast of Jerusalem, after the Israeli Supreme Court rejected an appeal to freeze the demolition order against his house.
In a related context, Israeli authorities gave Mohammed Abu Ahmad, a resident of the East Jerusalem’s town of Silwan, two days to demolish his house or else he has to pay exorbitant costs and fines if the Israeli West Jerusalem municipality carries out the demolition itself.
Many Palestinians in the occupied city embark on demolishing their own houses to avoid paying the high costs that will be imposed on them by the Israeli municipality.
Using the pretext of illegal building, Israel demolishes Palestinian-owned houses on a regular basis to restrict Palestinian expansion in occupied Jerusalem.
Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency