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JERUSALEM, January 30, 2012 (WAFA) – Members of West Jerusalem’s Israeli municipality Monday demolished a residential caravan dwelled by a Palestinian family in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina and a room in a house in nearby Shufat, according to witnesses.

A large Israeli police force and municipal staff used a bulldozer to demolish the two structures, forcing displacement of the family that lives in the caravan and cracks in the house where the room and a retaining wall were demolished.

Witnesses said that in spite of police cordon on the two areas, residents in Beit Hanina clashed with police trying to stop the demolition. One person was arrested.

In Shufat, a bulldozer demolished a 30-square meter room added to an already existing house claiming the room was built without permit.

Palestinians live in caravans, which they believe do not require a building permit, or expand an existing house mainly because residents of East Jerusalem have a difficult time, if at all, getting Israeli municipality building permits.

A recent report by the United Nations condemned Israeli house demolition policy in Jerusalem and the West Bank Area C, which is under full Israeli military control, and said last year demolitions were the highest in recent times.

R.Q./M.S.