JERUSALEM: A Palestinian resident of the town of Al-Za’im, east of occupied Jerusalem, was forced today to self-demolish his own home after receiving a demolition order from the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem.
Local sources said that local resident Adnan Darwish was forced today to demolish his home in order to avoid paying exorbitant fees to the Israeli municipality in the event that its crews carried out the demolition on their own.
Meanwhile, Darwish said that he was only given 24 hours to self-demolish his house or else the Israeli municipality will demolish it and obligate him to pay the exorbitant costs.
Darwsih pointed out that the 100-square-meter house is home to six people.
The demolition of the house is part of a plan to expand a colonial street between the towns of Al-Zaim and Al-Issawiya, according to the owner.
The occupation forces demolished approximately 110 homes in the city of Jerusalem during the last year, while forcing the owners of 130 homes to self-demolish them, according
to statistics issued by Jerusalemite institutions.
Using the pretext of illegal building, Israel demolishes houses on a regular basis to restrict Palestinian expansion in occupied Jerusalem.
Source: Palestine news and Information Agency