BBCAhmad Musa al-Qumbar said he faced huge fines for building his home without a legal permitWalking through the ruins of what used to be his home, 29-year-old Ahmad Musa al-Qumbar always feared the Jerusalem city authorities would come after him. The married Palestinian father-of-four built the modest single-storey building seven years ago, on land he owns and where his family have lived for generations.
But Ahmad never actually had a legal permit to build.
He lives in the Jabal Mukaber district of East Jerusalem. Within sight of the Old City and its many historic religious monuments, it is one of the most densely populated and fiercely contested parts of the region. It was captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war, and later annexed, but is widely regarded internationally as Palestinian territory.
Control of Jerusalem is one of the most contentious issues of the decades-old conflict. Palestinians officially claim East Jerusalem as their capital, while Israel considers the whole of the city as its capital.
“Who” is allowed to build “where” in the city is a big part of that battle.
The father of four had to hire heavy machinery to knock down his own house to avoid a $100,000 charge from the Jerusalem City authoritiesThe rate at which Palestinian homes are being demolished in occupied East Jerusalem has almost doubled since the start of the conflict in Gaza, say human rights groups and monitoring organisations. The demolitions are ordered by the Israeli-run municipal authority which says that many buildings, like Ahmad’s, are illegally built without permission.
One NGO, Ir Amim, says that “under the cover of war”, Israel is “forcibly displacing Palestinians from their homes and the city”.
“I had to demolish my house after I was hit with penalties by the police and the Israeli courts,” Ahmad tells me as he stands in the rubble of what used to be his kitchen.
“I couldn’t pay the fines and risk losing things like healthcare and my child insurance. Of course, we appealed to the court, but they refused.”
Like many in the same situation, Ahmad reluctantly hired heavy machinery to knock down the house himself. He said that the Jerusalem City authorities would have charged him the equivalent of $100,000 (£75,600) if they’d carried out the order.
It made the job perhaps even more painful – tearing down his family’s labours and his children’s future with his own hands.
Almost all attempts by Palestinian families in East Jerusalem to apply for planning permission are rejected by the Israeli authorities. That means growing families say they have no choice but to build illegally and face the potential consequences – huge fines and demolition orders.
Some say the law and the courts are being deliberately used to suppress Palestinian growth and ambitions.
“These Palestinian communities ask for permission, and between 95% to 99% of the requests are denied,” says Shay Parnes, spokesperson for the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem.
“It has been happening for years,” continues Parnes.
“Sometimes they use security reasons to justify it, but it’s always under the same framework of expelling Palestinians… because the law is different for different communities who live side by side in the same city.”