RESTRICTION SUMMARY: Jerusalem, 29 December 2021. An Israeli bulldozer demolishes a house in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.

0.1 SOUNDBITE (in Arabic) Fakhri Abu Diab, member of the Silwan Land Defense Committee

STORYLINE:

The Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem today demolished two Palestinian-owned houses in East Jerusalem under the pretext of construction without a permit.

WAFA correspondent in Jerusalem said that Israeli police sealed off the vicinity of a building in the neighborhood of Jabal Al-Mukabber owned by a local resident before the municipality bulldozer proceeded to demolish it.

Residents clashed with the Israeli forces at the location, who fired teargas and rubber bullets at the protesters causing suffocation.

In Silwan neighborhood, Israeli municipality staff demolished another house for a local resident, also under the pretext of construction without a permit.

The house owner said he built it three years ago after he got married to live in it.

Palestinians in Jerusalem say they are forced to build without permits because the Israeli municipality rarely issues permits to the city’s Palestinian citizens as a way to reduce their number by forcing them to leave it and find accommodation and work elsewhere.

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