Monday, June 1^st 2020, Ja’abis family were forced by the occupation authorities to demolish their own house , on the pretext of building without licenses.

The targeted house belongs to Majid Ja’abis who lives in the house with his family (7 family members, 5 of them are children).

Majid told LRC the following:

“Six month ago I built a house for my family , before that I used to live at my father’s house , my family got bigger , so I had to build a new house. The house had a total area of 90m², and it was built of bricks and cement.

Two weeks ago, the Occupation municipality staffs accompanied by the Israeli police showed up and gave me a demolition order on the pretext of building without licenses. after the construction was completed, I moved with my family to the house, only three days later , I was forced to demolish it. I only did that to avoid paying the high costs in case the occupation’s municipality carried out the demolition.”

During the corona lockdown, cases of self-demolition have increased, which is a continuation of the Israeli Occupation inhumanity, this policy started in 1967 and still exists until this day. On the other hand, The Israeli occupation always justifies that type of demolition, which is a blatant contravention of the right to residence and a crime against humanity, always with the same excuse “unlicensed construction”.  

About Jabal Al Mukabbir:[1]                                                                                            

5 kilometers south Jerusalem city , Jabal Al Mukabbir is surrounded by Silwan (north, Ath Thuri (west) , Abu Dis and As-Sawahra Ash- Sharqiya (east) , As-Sawahra Al-Gharbiya (south).

Jabal Mukabbir and As-Sawahra Al-Gharbiya together have a total population of (21, 127 ) people in 2012 census-The Jerusalem academy of Israeli Studies-, Jabal Al Mukabbir has an area of 3,281 dunums , 682,7 of them are the towns built uo area.

Israeli settlements devoured 300 dunums of the town's lands:

[1] GIS-LRC

Protecting marginalized communities in Jerusalem through legal support and advocacy

This report was prepared with EU funding, the contents of this document do not reflect positions of the European Union