Israeli occupation authorities compelled Jerusalem resident Ma’mar Jaabis and his son Mohammed to demolish their two apartments in the town of Jabal al-Mukaber, southeast of occupied Jerusalem, on Monday, July 31, 2023.
The Jaabis family had been attempting to secure building permits for several years, but the Israeli municipality imposed hefty fines of 300,000 shekels and eventually issued a final demolition order.
Fearing the financial burden of fines if the Israeli authorities carried out the demolition, the family decided to demolish the apartments themselves. The two apartments covered a total area of 160 square meters and housed 15 family members.
On Sunday night, confrontations erupted between Israeli forces and Palestinian youths in Jabal al-Mukaber, during which the forces dispersed the crowd using sound bombs.
The ongoing policy of demolishing Palestinian homes by Israeli forces remains a subject of grave concern, as it contributes to the displacement and dispossession of Palestinians from their ancestral lands.
The demolitions often occur under the pretext of lacking proper building permits, despite the Israeli authorities making it extremely challenging for Palestinians to obtain such permits in the first place. Other homes are demolished in favor of settlement expansion.
According to a recent report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Israeli occupation forces have carried out a staggering 529 demolitions of structures in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem since the beginning of 2023.
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