Israel demolishes Palestinian home in East Jerusalem

By Abdel Raouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli municipal authorities demolished a Palestinian-owned home in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday, according to family members.

Hani al-Hussaini said Israeli authorities cited lack of a building permit for bringing down the house in Jabel Mukaber neighborhood, south of East Jerusalem.

“The building was constructed about six years ago and was inhabited by a 4-member family,” he told Anadolu.

Al-Hussaini said the house owners had repeatedly tried to obtain a building permit from Israeli municipal authorities.

“They refused to grant us a permit and now they demolished the house allegedly for unauthorized construction,” he added.

According to al-Hussaini, there are 180 Palestinian houses in the neighborhood at the risk of demolition due to lack of building permits.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Israel demolished 50 residential homes in East Jerusalem since the start of this year.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.

International law regards both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as occupied territories and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there illegal.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report.