Demolishing 3 houses and displacing 18 individuals
On Tuesday,the occupation municipality’s bulldozers demolished three houses in the village of Jabal al-Mukabber and Beit Hanina in Jerusalem under the pretext of building without a permit.
Wadi Hilweh Information Center reported that the Israeli occupation authorities demolished the house of Fatima Abbasi in Jabal al-Mukabber village, south of Jerusalem.
Jalal Abbasi, Fatima’s brother, said that the occupation forces and municipal crews stormed the house in the morning when nobody was inside, ashis sister went out to work and her children to universities and schools. His sister was able to reach her house to see what is happening, but the forces initially prevented her from entering and then allowed her for several minutes where she took home some basic belongings.
Abbasi added: "The demolition took place without prior warning. About a month ago,the last hearing was held and I was awaiting the decision”. He pointed out that they have been trying for 10 years to license the house but to no avail, while the court imposed a NIS 130 thousand fine on them, which she is committed to paying her monthly payment until 2021.
The house has an area of nearly 150 square meters where 5 individuals lived.
Khalayleh family house
Khalayleh family was forced to self-demolish its house in the village of Jabal al-Mukabber, in order to avoid the payment of a NIS 100,000 fine, demolition costs for the municipality's staff and the accompanying forces.
The owner of the house, Mousa Awwad Khalayleh, said that the occupation municipality forced him to demolish his 130-year-old house, which he recently renovated with a license from the municipality. They gave him only minutes to demolish it or their bulldozers will execute the demolition on his expense, in addition to a fine that will be imposed on him.
He said: "The municipal crews accompanied by the forces remained stationed in the vicinity of the house until the demolition of the whole house, and then they handed us a decision to the need to move the rubble of the house to a designated place or we will be fined, and the bulldozer that carried out the demolition will be fined too."
Khalayleh family explained that they recently obtained a "renovation license" from the occupation municipality, and have already begun to do so because the house is old. The family which consists of 7 individuals moved to rent, and carried out the restoration as stated in the license that was issued by the municipality’s engineer without any violations. The family was then surprised to find a demolition order from the Ministry of Interior placed on their property under the pretext of building without a permit.
The family added: "We started the conflict in the courts to cancel the demolition order, and we were able to bring a map of the place from the Department of Maps and Survey in Tel Aviv, which proved the existence of the house, and then the Ministry of Interior claimed that we have violated the renovation license and the demolition order wasratified by the Supreme Court."
The family said: "The occupation authorities have confiscated our lands over the past years to build the apartheid wall that separated Jabal al-Mukabber from the village of Eastern Sawahreh, and to build a military barrier, and uprooted hundreds of olive trees, which used to support three families, and today forced us to demolish our house that existed before the existence of the occupation on this land."
Allon Family
The occupation municipality’s bulldozers demolished the house of Majdi Mustafa Allon, who confirmed that the demolition took place without prior notice, as a "house permit” file was due to be opened next week.
He explained that the house has been in existence for seven years, and has an area of 120 square meters, where 6 people lived.
The family explained that the municipality imposed a construction violation worth NIS 40,000 which they have been committed to paying their monthly payments.
