NAZARETH (Palestine Foundation Information Center) Israeli authorities demolished a house in the coastal town of Jisr al-Zarqa, near Haifa, on Monday under the pretext of unlicensed construction.
The demolished house had been inhabited for more than 30 years. It was stormed by force, and the family living there was evicted amid panic and tension, accompanied by a violent attack on the homeowner.
The neighborhood witnessed a large-scale siege by Israeli police forces, who arrived in large numbers to protect the demolition equipment and prevent residents from approaching or protesting.
This move comes in the context of a systematic policy practiced by the Israeli authorities against the residents of Jisr al-Zarqa, the only remaining Arab town on the Mediterranean coast.
Its residents suffer from a systematic urban, social, and economic siege aimed at restricting them and pushing them towards forced migration. The town is prevented from expanding naturally, and all attempts at planning and development are obstructed, while building permits are refused, forcing many residents to build without permits to secure shelter for their families.
This policy is not limited to Jisr al-Zarqa, but is part of a wave of escalating house demolitions in Palestinian towns in the 1948 occupied territories (Israel), under the pretext of unlicensed construction.
The occupation authorities demolished two buildings containing several residential apartments in the Al-Jawaris neighborhood of Ramla on Sunday, on the pretext of building without a permit, after storming the houses and forcing the residents to evacuate.
