Israel demolishes two Palestinian homes in Jerusalem

Israeli forces demolished two Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday under the pretext that they were constructed without a building permit.

In 2016, Israeli demolitions reached a 10-year high in the occupied territories, with over 1,560 Palestinians displaced by the destruction of homes and agricultural structures, according to UN data.

Israel approves less than two percent of all requests for building permits submitted by Palestinians, forcing many to build illegally.

Early Tuesday, the Israeli municipality demolished a two-story building in the neighbourhood of al-Isawiya saying the property lacked a building permit.

Locals told Ma’an News Agency that the building, which consisted of shops on the ground level and apartments on the second story, was constructed 10 years ago.

It is unclear how many Palestinians were left homeless.

Later on Tuesday, Israeli forces demolished another home in the Silwan neighbourhood belonging to Abu Hamed Abusneneh, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

The United Nations says more than 160 Palestinians have been displaced in East Jerusalem so far in 2017 as a result of home demolitions.

Since Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank in 1967, over 48,000 Palestinian homes and agricultural structures have been demolished in the occupied territories, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions says.

In that time, house demolitions and other Israeli policies have internally displaced at least 160,000 Palestinians, according to the group.

Most house demolitions in the West Bank take place in Area C, over 60 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli administrative and security control where most Israeli settlements are located.

In East Jerusalem, demolitions take place in strategic areas to create a geographic reality where Israeli sovereignty cannot be challenged and division of the city as part of the two state solution becomes impossible.