Israeli Authorities demolish a Palestinian house in East Jerusalem

The Israeli Authorities demolished on Tuesday a Palestinian home in Al Esawiyya town, in east Jerusalem, arrested three residents and attacked seven others including a number of women.

The demolished home belongs to Najah Abu Sneina. Israeli soldiers and policemen surrounded the town and barred the residents from approaching the house of Abu Sneina before demolishing it.

The policemen threatened to arrest any resident who approaches the area and violently attacked several residents injuring seven, including a several women.

Tareq Abu Sneina, the son of Najah, stated that the Jerusalem Municipality decided on November 16 that the house should be demolished, and gave the family thirty days to demolish it.

Although the court gave Abu Sneina 30 days to demolish his home, less than 30 hours after the court's decision, Israeli bulldozers demolished most of the house without even allowing the family to remove the furniture.

The demolished house was 180 square meters and hosted seven family members. The construction cost of the property was 200.000 NIS.

On February 2, Jerusalem municipality personnel came to the house and took pictures of it from inside and out and on March 3 the municipality decided to demolish it. The family filed several appeals but the decision was never revoked.

Jamal Abu Sneina, another son of Najah, stated that the family had to construct the property without a license as the Jerusalem municipality frequently rejects appeals to license Arab homes in the city while encouraging  the construction of Jewish neighborhoods and settlements.

In related news, the Jerusalem municipality intends of demolish the house of Ali Jom'a,in Jabal Al Shayyah neighborhood in Jabal Al Mokabbir town, east of Jerusalem.

The house was built using bricks and tin as a sealing and was constructed last July. Last year, the Jerusalem municipality demolished the same house but Ali reconstructed it.

“My brothers and I tried to obtain a construction license. We submitted the first application in 2004. Two committees approved the construction but the regional committee rejected it”, Ali stated, “We had to pay 15000 USD for the lawyer and 10.000 NIS as a fine, but the High Court decided to demolish it”.

The Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights reported that the Israeli Authorities demolished 51 Palestinian homes in the Jerusalem area since the beginning of this year.

Ziad Al Hammoury, head of the Center, stated that the demolishing of the homes and confiscating other homes is part of an illegal Israeli plan against the Arabs and Palestinians in order to create forced realities that would affect any future peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.