Heartbreak for Palestinian forced to demolish house
▶ The resident of East Jerusalem wanted to avoid hefty fees Israeli authorities charge to do it themselves
A Palestinian man living in occupied East Jerusalem destroyed his own house after receiving a demolition order from Israeli authorities.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Sultan Bashir received the order last month.
The reason given was the residence’s proximity to the embassy of the United States in West Jerusalem.
US President Donald Trump relocated the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May last year amid uproar across the Arab world.
“I built the house stone by stone and slowly completed it and tidied it up,” Mr Bashir said.
“This is the price of steadfastness in the city of Jerusalem: after the completion of the construction of our modest house and housing, the municipality began to hound us, meaning the municipal mechanisms will demolish it and I will pay the cost.” He demolished his 50-square-metre home in the district of Jebel Al Mukaber to avoid paying the hefty fees that Palestinians are forced to pay if the Jerusalem municipality carries out demolitions itself.
Israel says the practice is a form of deterrence against Palestinian attacks but rights groups say it is a form of collective punishment that is increasing.
Palestinians say Israel uses the tactic to increase its hold on East Jerusalem, preventing Palestinian construction.
Israel also razes Palestinian homes built without permits.
New statistics showed that more Palestinians in East Jerusalem were displaced from their homes in the first four months of this year because of demolitions than in all of 2018.
In those months, 193 people were affected, compared with 176 in all of 2018, United Nations figures show.
As of April, 111 Palestinian-owned structures had been demolished in occupied East Jerusalem – either by Israeli authorities or by the owners themselves.
On April 30, Israeli authorities demolished 31 structures in several East Jerusalem districts, the highest number in a single day since the UN started systematically monitoring the practice in 2009.
BTselem, the left-wing Israeli rights group, has long condemned the practice as one meant to extend the punishment to other Palestinians, not just those behind an attack.
“The policy of punitive house demolition is, by definition, meant to harm people who have done nothing wrong and are suspected of no wrongdoing, but are related to Palestinians who attacked or attempted to attack Israeli civilians or security forces,” it said.
“In almost all cases, the individual who carried out the attack or planned to do so no longer lives in the house, because they were killed by Israeli security forces during the attack or were arrested and face a long prison sentence in Israel.”