Land Research Center

Thursday, February 27^th 2020, the Israeli Occupation issued a demolition notice for Mohammed Al-Bushaiti (26) in Shu’fat north occupied Jerusalem, after consuming all possible chances to get licenses.

Reportedly, the targeted house consists of two floors and has a total area of 126 m², Mohammed and his wife lived in this house for a live time, it is full of sad and happy memories. However, the Israeli Occupation is not new to forced displacement policies, so they forced Al-Bushaiti family to demolish their house without worrying about their fate.

Al-Bushaiti decided to demolish his own house, to avoid the high fine and costs imposed in case the municipality carried out the demolition, which may exceed 10000 shekels. Al-Bushaiti started in Thursday demolishing the house with his bare hands, the occupation took two days.

The Occupation municipality issued a demolition order on the house, on the pretext of building without licenses, Al-Bushaiti tried to apply for a license several times but the request was refused.

It is almost impossible to get an exact number for self demolition cases in Jerusalem, because the occupation police forces the victims to stay silent about the demolition, and avoid talking to the press or human rights organizations about it.

This kind of demolition is mainly imposed on Palestinians in Jerusalem in efforts to displace them and Judaize the city.

The Israeli occupation always justifies that type of demolition, which is a blatant contravention of the right to residence and a crime against humanity, on the pretext of unlicensed construction.  

[If your house has been built without a building permit, then it is legal and you have to destroy it and remove the wreckage as soon as possible. You also have to take pictures of the destroyed structure and send them to the Inspection Department of the Planning and Construction Committee in the occupying municipality to verify the act. There is a fixed date regarding when you have to carry out the demolition operation and this is a red line you cannot cross. There is a second date set by the municipality court of local affairs to check if you have abided by the demolition order or not. In case you do not comply, the municipality will demolish your residence at your expense. If you cannot pay, you will be jailed, so the lesser of two evils becomes the self-demolition choice.]

LRC field observers kept a close eye on the matter and recorded 176 cases where the owners had to demolish their property by themselves during the past seven years (2010 -2019) making 1022 civilian citizens, more than 537 of whom are children, homeless and lacking security and stability.

This document was prepred with EU funding , the contents of this document are LRC responsibility