Jerusalem: The Israeli occupation forces on Thursday forced a Palestinian to self-demolish his home in occupied Jerusalem.
The occupation authorities forced Muhannad Abu Kaf to demolish his house in the town of Sur Baher, south of occupied Jerusalem, under the pretext of building without a permit.
Abu Kaf explained in a video interview released by Palestinian platforms that he had been working to establish and build his small house, with an area of 70 meters, eight months ago, during which several reviews of the occupation municipality led to his notification of the necessity of self-demolishing his house immediately, otherwise it will be demolished by the occupation authorities, with a fine for demolition costs.
Israeli occupation forces on Wednesday demolished a house under construction in the village of Dar Salah, east of Bethlehem.
Eyewitnesses told Wafa News Agency that the occupation forces demolished the two-storey house of Mohammed Ibrahim Awad.
The demolition was carried out under the pretext that it is close to the separation wall and racial expansion, knowing that it is located in Area A, and has a license from the local government.
The occupation had given the owner of the house a notice to stop construction last March, but on Wednesday he was surprised by the demolition, noting that the area is subject to repeated demolitions by the occupation, which affected a number of houses, and others to stop construction.
Since the beginning of this year, the occupied city of Jerusalem has witnessed an escalation in the demolition of Palestinian homes under the pretext of building without a permit. This is accompanied by an increase in the risks of forcibly evicting hundreds of Palestinians from homes where they have resided for decades in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan for the benefit of settlers.
The policy of demolishing Palestinian homes constitutes an old Israeli methodology since the establishment of the occupying state in 1948. Since the Nakba, the Israeli authorities have destroyed more than 500 Palestinian villages and towns.
Palestine warns of increasing Jewish settlement in West Bank, Jerusalem
The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Wednesday warned of the increasing Jewish-only settlement in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.
This came during a meeting between PA Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Riyad Al-Maliki, and Dutch Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Wopke Hoekstra, held in Ramallah.
During the meeting, Al-Maliki briefed Hoekstra on the escalating Israeli violations and crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory.
He called on the international community to stop its double standard and put an immediate end to Israel’s impunity, warning of the repercussions of the Israeli escalations in the occupied territories. He called on the Netherlands to recognise the state of Palestine in order to preserve the two-state solution.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, West Bank, and the Gaza Strip during the six-day Arab-Israeli War in 1967. It later had to withdraw from Gaza.
More than 700,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank.
All the settlements are illegal under international law. The United Nations Security Council had condemned the settlement activities in several resolutions.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
