JERUSALEM, Tuesday, June 23, 2020 (WAFA) - Crews of the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem demolished today a Palestinian-owned house in the occupied Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan under the pretext of being built without an Israeli permit.

The Silwan-based Wadi Hilweh Information Center said that the Israeli municipality crews, accompanied by Israeli special forces and police, raided the neighborhood, surrounded the house owned by Mohammad Rajabi before proceeding to demolish it.

Rajabi said the municipality crews were demolishing the house manually because the bulldozers were unable to access it.

He said the municipality issued the demolition order against his house, which was built two months ago, and did not give him the right to appeal the order.

An Israeli court last week gave the family until Sunday to demolish their own house, otherwise the municipality would demolish it and fine them over $30,000.

Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem say they are forced to build without a permit because it is impossible to get one from the all-Israeli municipality, particularly due to an Israeli policy aimed at keeping the city’s Palestinian population to a bare minimum while multiplying its Jewish residents by building thousands of housing units in settlements built illegally on confiscated Palestinian land.

K.T./M.K.