Ramallah: A Palestinian resident of occupied Jerusalem has torn down his own house with his hands after he received demolition orders from Israeli authorities who say he built the house illegally without a building permit.
Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem are rarely issued building permits by the Israeli regime and do not have any other option but to build homes to accommodate their expanding families, knowing Israel will, at some point, demolish it.
Adding insult to injury, Israel charges Palestinians for the cost of the demolition in addition to heavily fining them for their ‘crime’.
Saleh Al Showaiki, who is a lawyer himself, took the painful decision to tear down his house in order to avoid the hefty demolition cost — more than $20,000 — he would have had to pay.
His home in the neighbourhood of Silwan is 280 metres from the southern walls of Al Haram Al Sharif. It was built on a 450-square metre plot of land which he inherited from his father before the Israeli regime annexed and occupied East Jerusalem in 1967.
In 2008, he renovated the house, adding two rooms to accommodate his expanding family.
He currently lives with his two children in another part of occupied East Jerusalem.
“I don’t want to be a burden on my children. I’ve decided to erect a tent on my demolished home and live there,” he told Gulf News.
Al Showaiki’s case is one of hundreds, as the Israeli regime has made its designs on Silwan known.
Israel plans to demolition the entire neighbourhood and there are currently 1,500 demolition orders in place.
According to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights advocacy group, the Israeli regime demolished 88 homes in occupied East Jerusalem in 2016.
Palestinians say demolitions are a systematic attempt by the Israeli regime to erase the Palestinian and Muslim identity of occupied Jerusalem, which they desperately seek to make Israel’s capital.
More specifically, Israel wants to tighten the its control of Al Haram Al Sharif, by trying to dominate its surroundings.
