JERUSALEM, January 13, 2015 (WAFA) – The Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem has issued an order for the payment of the property tax, arnona, on a Palestinian-owned apartment which the municipality had demolished around two months ago, according to witnesses.

The apartment, owned by the family of Abdul-Rahman Shaloudi – said by Israel to have rammed his car into a crowd of Israeli commuters and killed two of them on October 22, 2014 – was demolished by the Israeli authorities in reprisal on 19 Nov 2014, about four weeks following the incident.

Witnesses told WAFA that a staff from the municipality told Shaloudi’s family they had to pay around $710 as a levy on their apartment, despite the fact it was demolished.

The municipality threatened to seize all the furniture and appliances of Shaloudi’s uncle’s house, where his family had moved after their apartment was demolished, if they do not pay the tax, the witnesses added.

According to human rights groups, the “arnona” puts an additional burden for Palestinian Jerusalemites, since it is collected on the basis of the size of dwellings, whether residential or commercial, and regardless of the income generated from commercial dwellings.

“The scarce, poor service the Jerusalem Municipality and Israeli institutions provide are not in accordance with the amount of taxes paid by Jerusalemites,” says LAW, a Jerusalem-based Palestinian human rights center.

Analyst reports argue that the quantity of revenue collected from Arab Jerusalemites totals 26% of total municipal revenue, while the government only returns 5% to the Arab taxpayers.

The Jerusalem Municipality also collects approximately NIS 150 million (around $28 million) in insurance deductions from Jerusalemite Palestinians annually but spends only NIS 20 million, reports indicate.

M.N