Israel forced 3 families to destroy their homes

The Israeli municipality on Saturday forced 3 Jerusalemites to demolish their homes with their own hands and to shovel their land under the pretext of building without a permit.

The first home, which is consisting of two floors, belongs to Dabash family in the village of Sur Baher, south of Jerusalem. The house used to shelter 26 people, most of them children.

Mohammed Khalil Dabash said that the Court of Local Affairs of the Municipality issued a decision to demolish a residential building consisting of two apartments with an area of 160 Sq.m, for the purpose of building a bypass road with 9 meters width, even though the building was erected 30 years ago, moreover the building is an extension to a house which was built in 1962, therefore the family tried over the recent years to issue a building permit but to no avail.

He noted that the municipality imposed on the family severe financial irregularities. Thus in 2005 it imposed on them 112 thousand shekels, and a further 80 thousand NIS.

Mohammed said “there are more than 10 homes and dozens of acres in the” Mount of Zakouka “all are threatened with demolition and confiscation for the benefit of this bypass road, which is not exist in reality.

The other house belongs to the citizen Mariam Iraq from the village of Sur Bahir. The house was under construction. However, the family demolished it to implement the resolution issued by the municipality on Wednesday, otherwise they were threatened to pay large sums of money failing to do so.