November 30^th 2020 , Citizen Fawaz ‘Abdo carried on demolishing his own house in Hai Al-Madaris south Jerusalem , after receiving a demolition notice from the occupation municipality on the pretext of building without a license.  

The targeted house has a total area of 110 m², built since 2014 and consists of three rooms ,a bathroom , a Kitchen, a living room, and inhabited by a family of 6 (1 of them is a child).

Fawaz told Land Research Center the following:

“I built a house for my family in 2014, after finishing the construction, a municipality employee showed up and summoned me to the court , the court battle continued until 2019, during which the occupation imposed a 60,000 Nis fine on me (18,400 $) , I pay 750 shekels a month to pay the fine.”

Citizen Fawaz ‘Abdo paid the high fine hoping to get a license and build a safe home for his family. But eventually, the Occupation’s court decided to force Fawaz to demolish his own house. He emptied the house, and Monday night was the day of carrying out the demolition, he later built a tent on its rubble for his family.

The Occupation’s Municipality in Jerusalem targets Palestinian construction in Jerusalem using the pretext of Security. Jerusalemites need thousands of new residential units, while Israel won’t allow them to build any , and demolish what is built without a license (which is almost impossible to get) . On the other hand, Israeli illegal Colonists rapidly expand illegally in Jerusalem and the West Bank, But the Law was only made to be used against Palestinians.

During the last ten years, LRC documented 246 self-demolition cases , the owners had to demolish their own houses to avoid paying the expensive costs in case the Occupation authorities carried out the demolition , as a result of this brutal policy , 1332 people lost their homes (670 are underage)

The graph shows self demolition cases between (2010 - Sept 20th 2020)

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