Land Research Center

 A massive force from the occupation army accompanied by an explosives team raided Al-Matar neighborhood in Kfar Aqab town, north Occupied Jerusalem broke into some building threatened of demolition on the claim of unlicensed construction and proximity to the annexation and isolation wall.

Noteworthy, the occupation's municipality issued four demolition orders on the above-mentioned buildings, which are as follows:

• First building: it is a nine floor building with three apartments in each one. Each apartment is of 160m² in area. The building is home for 15 families.
• Second building: it is a three under construction apartments with a parking for each.
• Third building: it is a seven story building with one apartment in each. It has seven storages in the ground floor.
• Fourth building: it is a ten story building with three apartments in each. Three apartments are inhabited where the rest are still under construction.

It is reported that the buildings were built in 2017 and that the occupation want them demolished on the claim that they are only seven meters away from the annexation wall. Noteworthy, around 120 child live in the buildings and will soon be homeless.

Owners of the building said that they constructed the building on private lands purchased from original land owners.

An owner of two buildings said he had them built without a building permit from the occupation municipality since it never grants Palestinians such permits in Kfar Aqab and Qalandiya areas despite the fact that those areas are relative to the municipality administration.

At time the buildings were notified of administrative demolition, the affected owners hired attorney Muhannad Jbara to follow up on the case, who later learned from the municipality that a demolition order was issued on February 27, 2017, three months prior to the current orders.

The attorney plead the orders in the central court on October 27, 2017 but to no avail. Another plea was submitted to the Supreme court on November 2017 and is still pending.

 The Jerusalem Municipality defended the demolitions, stating that the road will make it easier for tens of thousands of people, and “construction of the road for the benefit of all residents is fair and necessary.”

This case study is part of Kan'aan Project