Jerusalem municipality demolishes 16 stores in Shuafat refugee camp

The Jerusalem Municipality has demolished over a dozen storefronts on the main commercial street of the Shuafat Refugee Camp in East Jerusalem, as part of the city’s new policy of extending the reach of municipal enforcement to neighborhoods beyond the security fence.

Bulldozers were accompanying a large compliment of police and Border Police officers demolished at least 16 stores, according to rights groups B’tselem and Ir Amim.

The stores, all built without permits in a part of the city that has seen rampant neglect and almost no enforcement by municipal authorities for decades, were given demolition warnings only 12 hours earlier, Ir Amim says.

During the demolition, police were sealing off the street and shut down all movement in the area, effectively sealing residents in the neighborhood, the group charged.