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Photo:
Scene. Published by IMEMC News
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On Friday, a Palestinian man had to demolish parts of his home in Jabal al-Mokabber, in occupied East Jerusalem, to avoid excessively high fines and fees, imposed by the City Council.

The Palestinian, Mahmoud Omar Ja’afra, received a final demolition order form the City Council and the Interior Ministry, informing him that he has until February 4th to demolish sections of his property for “being built without a permit.”

He said that the Israeli court in Jerusalem has insisted that he demolishes nearly half of his property, despite his legal attempts to postpone the demolition, especially since the City Council has plans to grant permits for several buildings in the area of his home.

The property is nearly 200 square meters, while the demolition order targets half of it, built in 2016, when he expanded his property to accommodate his family of thirteen members.

On Thursday, fourteen family members were left homeless after the Israeli Civil Administration ordered for their homes to be demolished, in Silwan town, in Jerusalem.

Israel rarely grants Palestinians permits to build in East Jerusalem, though the Jerusalem municipality has claimed that compared to the Jewish population, they receive a disproportionately low number of permit applications from Palestinian communities, which also see high approval ratings.

For Jewish Israelis in occupied East Jerusalem’s illegal settlements, the planning, marketing, development, and infrastructure are funded and executed by the Israeli government.

By contrast, in Palestinian neighborhoods, all the burden falls on individual families to contend with a lengthy permit application that can last several years and cost tens of thousands of dollars.