Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian residential building in the occupied East Jerusalem on Wednesday.
The building, located in Jabel Mukaber neighborhood southeast of East Jerusalem, was home to nearly 50 Palestinians, who were left homeless after the demolition.
The Israeli municipal authorities claimed that the building lacked a construction permit, a pretext that Israel widely uses to demolish Palestinian structures in the occupied West Bank, especially in Area C, which constitutes about 60% of the territory and is under full Israeli control.
The building’s owner, Um Adam al-Husseini, said that the Israeli forces demolished part of the building in 2009 and leveled it all on Wednesday without prior warning.
“We have been living in the building since 2006, and we have repeatedly tried to obtain a building permit, but to no avail,” she said.
The demolition came amid rising tensions in East Jerusalem, where hundreds of Palestinians face the threat of eviction from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods due to Israeli court rulings in favor of Jewish settlers.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) condemned the demolition and called on the international community to intervene and stop Israel’s violations of international law and human rights in the occupied territories.
The PA’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the demolition was part of Israel’s “ethnic cleansing” policy and its attempts to change the demographic and historical character of East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians consider as the capital of their future state.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza, in the 1967 Six-Day War. It later annexed the city in a move that was never recognized by most of the international community.
Israel claims that Jerusalem, both East and West, is its “eternal and undivided” capital, while the Palestinians insist that East Jerusalem is their capital and an integral part of their national rights.
