In East Jerusalem ‘a whole Palestinian community is about to be expelled’
Fakhri Abu Diab, beside the rubble of his house that the Jerusalem Municipality demolished in 2024, Al-Bustan, Silwan, occupied East Jerusalem
Shatha Yaish reports in +972 on 1 May 2026:
Omar Abu Rajab packed his belongings into black trash bags. A few days earlier, while the 60-year-old was grieving the recent loss of his mother, representatives of the Jerusalem Municipality had knocked on his door and served him a demolition order for the small apartment he shares with his wife in Al-Bustan — a section of the Silwan neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem that is currently at the heart of a rapidly intensifying Israeli expulsion campaign.
Faced with the demolition order and the prospect of a fine worth thousands of dollars for the trouble of having his house razed by the municipality, he chose not to wait for the bulldozers. Instead, he opted for the cheaper option: tearing his home down himself.
The Jerusalem Municipality claims that homes like Abu Rajab’s were built illegally, without the necessary permits. “There are no permits,” Abu Rajab told +972 Magazine, explaining that Israel makes it almost impossible for Palestinians in East Jerusalem to receive the necessary authorization to build legally.
Over the past decade, Abu Rajab has already been forced out of two other homes elsewhere in Silwan; one was demolished by the municipality, while the other he demolished himself. “I am still paying penalties from a previous home they demolished years ago,” he explained. “I am sick, and I work four hours a day, but I can’t keep up with all these costs. There’s nothing else I can do. It’s cheaper to do it ourselves.”
A few days later, three of Abu Rajab’s grandchildren skipped school to help with the demolition, bringing their own hammers to tear down the walls. Abu Rajab and his wife have since moved in with his brother’s family next door, all of them squeezed into a small apartment.