JERUSALEM, Saturday, May 30, 2020 (WAFA) – Two Palestinian brothers from the occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukaber embarked today on demolishing their two homes after they were asked to do so by Israeli municipality to avoid paying exorbitant costs if the municipality carries out the demolition on its own.

Imad and Ahmad Mashahreh said the Israeli municipality handed them a notice asking them to demolish the two houses, under the pretext of lacking a construction permit.

The two said they were compelled to do so in order to avoid paying unreasonable demolition costs to the Israeli municipality.

The two houses demolished were the only shelter for their two families of 11 both.

Palestinians in Jerusalem are forced to build without a permit because getting a building permit is impossible under the Israeli municipality’s discriminatory policies against the Palestinian population, at a time it grants permits to thousands of new housing units in the city’s Jewish settlements.

Almost 75 percent of applications for a permit by the Palestinian citizens of Jerusalem are rejected by the municipality, according to rights groups.

M.N