JERUSALEM, March 18, 2018 (WAFA) – A Palestinian citizen of Silwan neighborhood in occupied Jerusalem was on Saturday forced by Israeli municipality to demolish his own home in the neighborhood, under the pretext of construction without a permit, according to Wadi Hilweh Information Center.

Ishaq Shweiki was forced to demolish his own house by a decision of the Israeli municipality to avoid paying unreasonable fines to the municipality of up to $17000, and to avoid demolishing the first floor of the building which was built more than 100 years ago.

Shuweiki explained that the Israeli municipality gave him 30 days to implement the decision to demolish the house under the pretext of building without permission.

Shuweiki pointed out that he built the second floor, only 50 square meters, six years ago to meet the increasing housing demands of his family.

Palestinians in Jerusalem say they are forced to build without a permit because getting a building permit is impossible as the right-wing mayor attempts to keep the city’s Palestinian population at a bare minimum while multiplying its Jewish residents by approving the construction of thousands of new housing units in Jewish settlements.

According to a recent statistic by B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, Israeli authorities demolished 104 non-residential structures in East Jerusalem (including fences, storerooms, farming buildings, businesses and a mosque) from January 2016 through February 2018.

C.K/K.T/M.N