Sunday, February 9^th 2020 , family of Maha Ad-Dibs were forced to demolish their own home , after receiving a notice from the occupation’s municipality  on the pretext of building without licenses.

The house is inhabited by the owner’s family of 5 (3 of them are children), and has a total area of 70m² ,built since (2016).

Owner Maha Ad-Dibs told LRC:

“Since the construction of the house, we have been trying to protect it from demolition , we have ownership deeds that prove our right to the plot where the house is built , but the occupation municipality claims that the plot was already confiscated in the past.

Few days ago, the occupation municipality informed us that they will carry out the demolition operation, and make me pay for all the machineries and workers costs, so to avoid the bill that may reach 60 thousand shekels, we decided to carry out the demolition ourselves.”

Noteworthy, the town of Jabal Al-Mukabir consists tens of houses threatened of demolition for licensing issues, the occupation municipality is refusing to make an outline for the area claiming that it is an open natural space, the area is also adjacent to the Annexation & Expansion wall , where the occupation bans construction on around 100 m on both sides of the wall under security claims.

Ad-Dibs family rented a bulldozer to carry out the demolition operation

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:

 Self-Demolition is a Crime against Humanity:

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.]

[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