JERUSALEM, Staff from the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem, under heavy police protection, today razed a Palestinian-owned house in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, displacing eight people, according to the house owner.

Hazem Abu Sneineh, the owner of the demolished house, told WAFA that Israeli police and municipal crews escorted a bulldozer into the neighborhood where the heavy machinery tore down the 115-square-meter house, purportedly for being built without a license, rendering his eight-member family homeless.

Police cordoned off the house, pushed people out of the area and detained two of Abu Sneineh’s sons along with a neighbor for trying to stop the demolition.

Using the pretext of illegal building, Israel demolishes houses on a regular basis to restrict Palestinian expansion in occupied Jerusalem.

At the same time, the municipality and government build tens of thousands of housing units in illegal settlements in East Jerusalem for Jews with the goal to offset the demographic balance in favor of the Jewish settlers in the occupied city.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency