The deadline set by the Israeli occupation authorities ends today for 13 Palestinian families who received orders to self-demolish their homes in the Al-Bustan quarter in the occupied Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan within 21 days.

Earlier this month, the Israeli municipality in Jerusalem handed over notifications of renewal of house demolition notices belonging to 13 families in Al-Bustan. These homes are among 86 homes that the Israeli occupation courts had issued demolition orders against without specifying a date for implementation.

This is part of the policy of ethnic cleansing and liquidation of the Arab presence in neighborhoods near Al-Aqsa Mosque which aims to change the demographic structure and increase the number of settlers in Jerusalem.

The Al-Bustan neighbourhood in Silwan, which is south of the Old City, has 119 families in 88 buildings that are under threat of demolishment to make way for an Israeli archaeological park.

Israel's widely practiced policy of home demolitions and destruction of other property targets entire families. Such demolitions are regarded as illegal collective punishment and are a violation of international human rights law.