JERUSALEM, March 22, 2016 (WAFA) – Israeli authorities on Tuesday demolished a Palestinian private-owned commercial store and a caravan in Jerusalem, according to local sources.

WAFA correspondent said an Israeli police contingent broke into Jabal al-Mukabir area and cordoned it off, before they proceeded to demolish the store, under the pretext of construction without a permit.

Meanwhile, Israeli police broke into Beit Hanina, a northern outskirt of Jerusalem, and demolished a caravan which shelters a local Palestinian family, also for being set up without an Israeli permit.

Owner of the house, Jamal Edrees, said he had incurred some $23,000 in expenses for building the caravan. He added that he spared no effort to obtain a permit for the caravan, but he was unable to do so given the strict Israeli ations on issuance of building permits to Palestinians.

According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Israeli government policies make it nearly impossible for Palestinian residents to obtain building permits.

The UN monitoring group OCHA says that, over the course of 2015, Israel demolished 521 structures in Area C as well as in East Jerusalem, displacing 636 people.

The vast majority of these demolitions were carried out on the grounds of construction without a permit. Between 2010 and 2014, only 1.5 percent of applications for building permits in Area C were approved by Israeli occupation authorities, OCHA adds.

M.N