Yousif Bukhtan told Ma'an that the walls of his 60-square-meter house had been built several years ago, and the roof was added three years ago.
He said that the Jerusalem municipality had warned that if he didn't demolish the roof by the end of March, he would be forced to pay the exorbitant fine typically imposed by Israeli authorities when municipality crews carry out demolitions.
In Bukhtan's case, if he had refused to carry out the demolition himself, the municipality's crews would have likely razed the entire house to the ground, he said.
A spokesperson for the Jerusalem municipality had previously told Ma’an that “self demolitions occur when house owners heed legal notices and court rulings and remove building code violations independently. Specific instances of residents heeding these notices are not verified in real time, therefore we cannot comment on them."
The owner, Luay Abu Rmouz, said at the time he could not bring himself to demolish the house himself, which he built seven years ago, having payed a total of 80,000 shekels (approximately $21,572) in fines to the municipality over the years while trying to legalize his house.
"It is difficult for me to demolish my own house with my own hands when I built it myself," he told Ma'an. "I was shocked by the way they (Israeli authorities) raided my home and dealt with the family before carrying out the demolition.”
According to UN documentation, as of March 20, 42 Palestinian structures in East Jerusalem had been demolished since the beginning of the year, displacing at least 80 Palestinians. In 2016, 190 Palestinian structures in East Jerusalem were demolished, leaving an estimated 254 Palestinians forcibly displaced, according to the UN.
