On Friday, June 22, 2018, brothers, As'aad and Wa'el Nabeel Muhmmad Shweiki had to destroy their houses in Silwan neighborhood, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, after they were forced by the Israeli Municipality to knock the dwellings  down on the pretext of unlicensed construction.

Wa'el Shweiki told the Land Research Center researcher that:

A month ago, my brother and I embarked on establishing a structure that has two apartments;  each apartment was supposed to 75 square meters. The aim was to move and inhabit them. However, during the construction process, employees from the Israeli Municipality visited the area and took footage of the building. They then left a suspension of work note and a demolition order on the structure. At that point, May 23, 2018, the construction was then walls without a ceiling, that is, the building was without a roof.

Shweiki added,

fearing that the Israeli Municipality would charge us for building without a prior permission from the Municipality of the occupation and in order to avoid any incurring fines in case the Municipality took on the implementation of the  demolition order, we decided to take matters into our own hands and self demolish what we call home. On Friday, July 22, 2018, we knocked the entire structure down…

Shweiki brothers are not the only case; many Palestinians have to destroy their homes. This practice seems inconceivable and illogical but Palestinians are left with no choice. Israeli authorities impose high fines on Palestinian citizens as a form of punishment for building their homes or any structures without obtaining permits from the Israeli Municipality. These fines may amount to hundreds of thousands of shekels and  vary as costs and fees of hiring a bulldozer  and bringing police officers are also included. There is no doubt that these fines levied by the  Jerusalem Municipality of the Israeli occupation are a source of income and profit to the Municipality.

This case study is part of Kan'aan Project