With all eyes on Gaza, Israel steps up the demolition of Palestinian properties Occupied East Jerusalem Information

International Courant

Occupied East Jerusalem – Fakhri Abu Diab didn’t have time to pack his belongings when Israeli authorities arrived on his doorstep in occupied East Jerusalem on February 14. The police first evicted his household after which ordered a bulldozer to demolish his home.

“All my reminiscences had been in that home,” mentioned Abu Diab, 62, who was born and raised in that home. “I even had a photograph of my mom holding me as a toddler. It held on our wall, however now it is gone.”

Within the wake of Israel’s devastating conflict on Gaza, the Jerusalem Municipality has stepped up demolition of properties on the east facet of the town, which Israel annexed from the occupied West Financial institution in 1967 and the place most of Jerusalem’s 362,000 Palestinians reside.

Through the first 9 months of 2023, Israel demolished a complete of 97 Palestinian properties. However since Hamas’s lethal assault on Israeli communities and navy outposts in southern Israel on October 7 final yr, 87 properties have been bulldozed in East Jerusalem, in response to Ir Amim, a neighborhood nonprofit that displays and advocates for house demolitions. for Palestinian rights.

The acute enhance in destruction means that the Jerusalem municipality is exploiting international consideration on Gaza, the place practically 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, to attempt to uproot much more Palestinians from east Jerusalem, activists and consultants say.

“These demolitions are being carried out beneath the guise of legislation enforcement – ​​as if it had been a bureaucratic measure – however in actuality it’s a type of state violence and serves as a mechanism for Palestinian displacement to drive them out of the town,” Amy mentioned. Cohen, director of worldwide relations and advocacy for Ir Amim.

Systemic violence

Israel justifies the demolition of Palestinian properties in East Jerusalem by claiming they had been constructed with out permits. The municipality usually solely permits nearly all of Jewish neighborhoods to construct new homes.

Authorized discrimination has compelled Palestinians to construct with out permits, making 28 % of Palestinian properties in East Jerusalem “unlawful.”

Israeli authorities have ordered most of them to be demolished, mentioned Daniel Seidemann, an Israeli lawyer who makes a speciality of authorized and public points in East Jerusalem.

“Earlier than the conflict there have been about 20,000 excellent demolition orders and people orders by no means expire,” Seidemann informed Al Jazeera.

The demolition of properties is prohibited beneath worldwide legislation until it’s needed for navy operations. However Omar Shakir, the Israeli-Palestinian director of Human Rights Watch, mentioned Israel has created a authorized construction to permit Palestinian properties to be demolished.

“There are totally different mechanisms (to implement demolitions), all of which finally pursue the identical purpose: evicting Palestinians from their land and maximizing land for Jewish Israelis,” he informed Al Jazeera.

Seidemann mentioned Palestinians in East Jerusalem have turn into noticeably extra petrified of shedding their properties since October 7. He was referring to the perceived enhance in racist rhetoric and violent intimidation that Israeli politicians and safety officers have proven Palestinians.

“The tense ambiance in the meanwhile makes (the Palestinians assume that) if they’ve a demolition order, their home may then be destroyed,” he mentioned.

Ship a message

The demolition of Abu Diab’s home has elevated these fears, consultants and activists say.

Abu Diab is himself a human rights activist and the elected spokesman for Silwan, a district representing about 60,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem. Residents belief him to talk out in opposition to house demolitions and different types of systemic discrimination confronted by Palestinians by the hands of Israeli occupation authorities.

“This isn’t the primary time the Israelis have focused him,” mentioned Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, the Israeli co-director with Abu Diab of Jahalin Solidarity, a neighborhood group that works to stop the compelled displacement of Palestinians. “One time he was put in jail and one other time his son was arrested. The message was: ‘Inform your father to close up.’

“I requested Abu Diab after (Israel) demolished his home if he would cease talking out. He mentioned, ‘I’ll communicate out much more now,'” Godfrey-Goldstein informed Al Jazeera.

Fakhri Abu Diab drinks tea and greets buddies at Al-Aqsa Mosque (Mat Nashed/Al Jazeera)

Palestinian and Israeli activists imagine that advocacy to guard Palestinian properties is required now greater than ever. With municipal elections approaching on February 27, Abu Diab believes candidates are intentionally calling for extra homes to be demolished to attraction to their voters.

He mentioned he fears that far-right candidate Arieh King, who’s at present deputy mayor of Jerusalem, may turn into the following mayor. King has beforehand said that he goals to restrict the development of Palestinian properties to guard Israel’s character as a Jewish state. In December, he posted on X calling the Palestinians “inhuman.”

“If King turns into the following mayor within the coming elections, the state of affairs will turn into fairly tough. He has overtly threatened to demolish Palestinian properties and kill Palestinians,” Abu Diab mentioned.

‘There can be a response’

Abu Diab mentioned he owes his life to Godfrey-Goldstein and different activists for shortly alerting journalists and human rights teams when police stormed his house. He believes police may have significantly injured or killed him if these current had not filmed the demolition.

“My spouse was sleeping when about twenty to thirty cops burst in. We’re traumatized by what we’ve got skilled,” he informed Al Jazeera.

However whereas Abu Diab survived, he and his household – youngsters and grandchildren – at the moment are homeless. He informed Al Jazeera that he sleeps within the properties of buddies and kinfolk in his group, typically shifting from one house to a different.

Abu Diab can be involved that he could not be capable of afford the demolition. Israeli authorities usually require Palestinian residents to pay for the demolition of their properties, in addition to the salaries of cops deployed to evict residents and safe the properties.

Abu Diab expects the whole invoice to be $20,000 to $30,000. His quick precedence, nevertheless, is discovering a brand new house for his grandchildren, who’re too younger to grasp why they’re homeless.

His two-year-old granddaughter not too long ago requested him why the police destroyed their home. He mentioned he had no thought reply.

Whereas he tries to remain sturdy for his household, Abu Diab worries in regards to the future and warned that Palestinians in East Jerusalem will finally erupt in anger if Israeli authorities proceed to ramp up home demolitions.

“There can be a response,” he informed Al Jazeera. “Folks cannot maintain this up for lengthy.”

With all eyes on Gaza, Israel steps up the demolition of Palestinian properties Occupied East Jerusalem Information

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