The Israeli authorities have displaced all members of two Palestinian families after forcing them to completely demolish their own homes in the occupied al-Quds city, a report says.
Israeli authorities left Mohamed Matar, the father, no choice but to totally knock down his own home in its entirety in Ein al-Hilweh neighborhood of Silwan district on Saturday, the Palestinian Information Center reported on Sunday.
The report added that the Israeli police had phoned Matar to comply with a demolition order issued previously by the municipality against his house, stressing that he would have to pay 100,000 shekels to the municipality if he refused to demolish his own house at his own expense.
The Palestinian father said that he had to begin demolishing his house with his own hands because of his difficult living conditions and the financial penalty which he still pays to the municipality for building the house without granting a required license.
Matar, father of four kids, has been given until next Monday to finish demolishing the house, which he built 12 years ago.
In a similar incident, the Israeli municipality forced Ali Sari, father of three children, to demolish his own house in Jabel al-Mukaber neighborhood, south of the al-Aqsa Mosque.
He had built the house some five months ago.
The Israeli regime routinely demolishes Palestinian houses in the occupied West Bank, claiming that the structures have been built without the so-called permits, which are almost impossible to obtain. They also sometimes order Palestinian owners to demolish their own houses or pay the costs of the demolition if they do not.
Since January 2020, the Israeli regime has forced dozens of Palestinians in the city to raze their homes amid hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
In May 2020, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem reported that the Tel Aviv regime used other strategies to block Palestinian use of land in order to pave the way for new settlements.
Israeli forces seize Palestinians’ solar panels in Jordan Valley
On Sunday morning, Israeli forces also seized solar panels from the Palestinian families living in the hamlet of Khirbet Yarza in the northern Jordan Valley, the Palestinian Information Center said in a separate report.
Citing local sources, the report added that Israeli forces raided the small village and began dismantling solar panels, which are used by the residents to generate electricity, before confiscating them.
According to the sources, the Israeli regime uses such practices to force local residents of the northern Jordan Valley to abandon the areas they live in.
Khirbet Yarza, situated in the east of Tubas province, is home to some by 12 families – totaling 100 citizens – who are originally from the area and whose ancestors were living there in large numbers before the West Bank was occupied by the Israeli regime in 1967.
More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.
All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. The UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.
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