JERUSALEM, Sunday, February 14, 2021 (WAFA) – A Palestinian family from the occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan embarked today on demolishing animal barns of its own after it was forced to do so by Israeli municipality to avoid paying exorbitant costs if the municipality carries out the demolition.

Omar Seyam, a Palestinian citizen of Silwan, told Wadi Hilweh Information Center that he was forced to demolish the barns, which he uses for raising livestock, after the Israeli municipality issued a demolition order against them under the pretext they were built without a permit.

Seyam said he had no choice but to do so in order to avoid paying unreasonable demolition costs to the Israeli municipality.

Palestinians in Jerusalem say they are forced to build without a permit because getting a building permit is impossible as the right-wing mayor and city council attempt to keep the city's Palestinian population at a bare minimum while multiplying its settler community by approving the construction of thousands of new housing units in Jewish-only 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