JERUSALEM, Sunday, February 21, 2021 (WAFA) – Israeli authorities issued today a demolition notice against a two-story apartment building belonging o a Palestinian family near the al-Issawiya neighborhood in the occupied city of Jerusalem, according to one of the owners.

Fadi Elayyan, one of al-Aqsa mosque guards and one of the owners, told WAFA that the Israeli West Jerusalem municipality informed him of its intention to demolish his family's 370-square-meter apartment building tomorrow. The building was built 10 years ago and consists of four residential apartments.

It is inhabited by 17 people, including 12 children, and belongs to Elyyan, his two brothers, and their father.

He added that although the building falls within the outline plan in which construction is permitted in al-Issawiya, the Israeli authorities seek to demolish it as a means to clamp down on him and prevent him from working in Al-Aqsa mosque.

Last year, an Israeli court rejected an appeal to freeze the decision to demolish the building, after it suspended any possibility to continue licensing procedures by the family.

It is noteworthy that Elayyan was arrested several times and banned from entering the mosque, under the pretext of disrupting settlers' incursions and protesting against the Israeli soldiers' desecration of the prayer halls.

K.T./T.R.