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JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian was forced to demolish his own home in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, on Saturday morning, upon order by the Israeli municipality claiming the building lacks a building license.

The Israeli municipality had summoned Hussam al-Abbasi and ordered him to demolish his own home, or the municipality would, thus, imposing a fine on al-Abbasi for demolition costs.

Al-Abbasi said that he was forced to demolish his own home, that is a third floor apartment in a housing building, in order to lessen damages on the neighborhood and other families living in the building.

He pointed out that his 70-square-meter apartment was built one year ago, adding that he lives in it along with his wife and child.

Palestinians of occupied East Jerusalem are forced to demolish their own homes upon orders by the Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem, to avoid paying exorbitant demolition fees to the municipality.

The Israeli municipality gives Palestinian in Jerusalem two choices: destroy their home themselves, or wait for the municipality to destroy it and then pay the cost of the demolition.

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.