23 Sep 2020; MEMO: Israeli occupation forces demolished a wedding hall, which also served as a residential apartment, inside a village based in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarm.
Ihsan Awad, head of the Jubara Village Council, told Wafa news agency that the local community was shocked after Israeli occupation forces forced through the village of Jubara in three bulldozers.
The 900 square metre building consisted of a small home inhabited by a family, who were forced out before the demolition took place.
According to Awad, the demolished wedding hall belonged to a Palestinian citizen of Israel, who previously received demolition notices on the grounds that the building has not been constructed with the correct permit.
Palestinians are rarely granted building permits by Israeli occupation authorities, especially in occupied East Jerusalem.
Palestinians believe the true purpose of the restrictive planning regime is to empty the city of its Palestinian inhabitants.
Earlier this month, it was reported that the number of building permits Israel has granted Palestinians in the occupied territories decreased by 45 per cent in the second quarter of 2020.
The UN’s Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) noted in an April 2019 report that in East Jerusalem “a restrictive planning regime applied by Israel makes it virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits.”
The building permits are charged at extortionate prices and are unaffordable for most Palestinians, creating a legal loophole for Israel to annex more land and to leave Palestinians in limbo by preventing them from developing infrastructure.
Israel’s widely practiced policy of home demolitions targeting entire families are acts of illegal collective punishment and come in direct violation of International Human Rights Law.
