JERUSALEM, Wednesday, September 18, 2019 (WAFA) – Teams from the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem accompanied by Israeli forces today informed a number of Palestinians in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiyeh that their homes are going to be demolished because they were built without permit, according to a local activist.

Mohammad Abu Hummus, a resident of and activist from Issawiyeh, said the municipality staff handed over demolition orders to several homes in the neighborhood and summoned others to appear before municipality officials for building without a license.

He said the staff also took pictures and measurements of several homes, which is usually a prelude to their demolition.

Abu Hummus said most of these building are inhabited.

Israeli police and municipality have been targeting and punishing Issawiyeh for resisting police incursions and brutality against its civilian population. Several punitive measures, including nightly raids and searches of homes, detentions and others, have been applied against the neighborhood and its residents in recent weeks.

Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem say they are often forced to take a risk and build without permit since getting one from the all-Jewish municipality is almost impossible in most of their neighborhoods.

At the same time, the municipality builds thousands of housing units for Jewish residents of the city on land taken away from its Palestinian owners.

M.K.