Demolishing Palestinian homes for an Israeli religious theme park
Protesters hold placards at a demonstration during a court hearing over the planned eviction of residents from Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem
About 1,500 people living in more than 100 buildings in the al-Bustan area of Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem are under threat.
On Monday, Jerusalem Municipality inspectors, accompanied by Israeli forces, delivered notices to demolish at least 13 of those homes and structures within 21 days, after an Israeli court ruled earlier they had been constructed without building permits.
“Stating that the orders were delivered is somewhat inaccurate,” said social activist Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, the co-director of the Jahalin Solidarity organisation.
“When inspectors deliver orders to Palestinians, they don’t give them in person or even affix them to the relevant doors despite the notices saying ‘demolition within 21-days of receipt’,” Godfrey-Goldstein told Al Jazeera.
The notices were often not received, blow away and are sometimes found on the ground, she said.
“Hence, many Palestinians only know their houses are about to be demolished when they wake up to the sound of doors being bashed in or the day before when inspectors come to photograph their target,” explained Goldfrey-Goldstein, a former member of the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions, which fights the destruction of Palestinian homes in the Israeli occupied territories.
Jerusalem deputy mayors Arieh King and Fleur Hassan-Nahoum are on record recently confirming that the aim of the state was to limit Palestinian construction in East Jerusalem as a deliberate policy that favoured Jews to protect Israel’s character, saying Israel was a Jewish state.