14th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, RamallahTeam | Beit Hanina, Occupied Palestine
On Monday, June 10, a group of fifty-three Palestinians living in the Beit Hanina neighborhood of East Jerusalem received eviction orders from the Israeli authorities. These families have been living in Beit Hanina for over 40 years and for nearly the past 20 years have been fighting off repeated attempts by Israeli officials and soldiers trying to force them off their land. The eviction order, now effective, could be enforced at any time.
Ever since the Apartheid Wall was built around East Jerusalem, these people have been separated from family members, who live just on the other side of the Wall. To complicate matters even further, they have West Bank identification cards, although the Wall–which, in Beit Hanina, stretches outside the legal borders of East Jerusalem–separates them from the rest of the West Bank. Travel to Jerusalem, therefore, is illegal for them. And without a permit, travel to the West Bank means that they may not be allowed to come back through one of the many checkpoints separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem.
The residents of Beit Hanina will continue to resist the illegal occupation of their lands and eviction of their families to build illegal settlements.
Israeli Forces demolished an apartment building in Beit Hanina, Jerusalem, on May 29, 2013, displacing thirteen members of the Al-Salaymeh family. Badran Al-Salameh attempted previously to obtain a permit for his two-story building, constructed in 2000, but was unsuccessful and subsequently fined a total of over 200,000 NIS for a lack thereof. Two bulldozers arrived at 10:00am on Wednesday morning and began to demolish the building, consisting of four apartments. Two minors were arrested during the demolition and another suffered injuries from exposure to pepper spray.
This demolition is one of nine that have occurred in Jerusalem within the past two weeks, directly displacing a minimum of seventy-seven people. Al-Quds Daily reported on May 28 that an additional 450 Palestinian homes in the occupied city are currently awaiting demolition after receiving orders against them by the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem. According to a 2009 OCHA report, a conservative estimate of 60,000 Jerusalemites are vulnerable to having their homes demolished.
Israel’s escalation of housing demolitions in Jerusalem comes in the midst of an attempt from the international community to re-launch peace negations. US Secretary of State John Kerry was in the region last week, yet his visit went without comment on the demolitions despite being in Jerusalem a mere 48 hours after seven homes had been bulldozed. Such consistent inaction in holding Israel accountable for its rights violations has led the occupying state to escalate its human rights abuses without regard to international consequences.
Home demolitions are just one of many policies Israel imposes in Jerusalem with the intent to forcibly evict the city’s Palestinian population and ensure a Jewish majority. With building permits difficult to obtain and property rates sky-rocketing, those whose homes are seized and demolished are often forced to move outside of the city’s borders, rendering them vulnerable to having their residency IDs revoked and thus losing their right to live within Jerusalem. These policies exist in blatant violation of theFourth Geneva Convention, which explicitly prohibits an occupying power from forcibly transferring an occupied population.
The Jerusalemites Campaign therefore demands that Israel immediately cease all of its policies that serve to alter the demographics of Jerusalem, reverse their effects to the fullest extent possible, and compensate the victims of said policies for the suffering they have endured. The Jerusalemites Campaign calls upon the international community and all people of conscience to hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law through all possible mechanisms, including the adoption of the call for broad boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS).
About the Jerusalemites Campaign – The International Campaign to Protect Palestinian Residency in Jerusalem is a global initiative to end residency revocation of Palestinians in Occupied Jerusalem. Follow us online on Facebook, Twitter (@jerusalemites), and at Jerusalemites.tumblr.com.
6 December 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
Following the violent demolitions in Qalqiliya yesterday, and in Beit Hannina and Silwan on Sunday, Israel continued its displacement of Palestinians throughout the West Bank today in occupied East Jerusalem.
On the day Israel announced a plan to forcibly remove 2300 Palestinians from their homes, a demolition team arrived in Al Khalaylah, a small village in East Jerusalem. Two homes, an animal barracks, and part of a hardware store were flattened within hours. Palestinians watched as their homes were lost, leaving 6 children and several adults homeless. Armed military and police guarded the area as bulldozers destroyed the structures.
One woman was visibly crying during the demolition of the second home. When asked if the home was hers, she answered “No, my uncle’s.”
The ethnic cleansing of non-Jews from Palestine began in 1948 during the creation of the State of Israel. Sadly it continues its ethnic cleansing today, through house demolitions, apartheid laws, and the refusal of Israel to observe the Palestinian right of return as guaranteed by UN Resolution 194 Article 11.
Wahed Rejol is a volunteer with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).
25 November 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
At 11 AM this Thursday the 24 of November, Mohammed Ka’abne and his family of Beit Hannina, were shocked by the arrival at their doorstep of an Israeli military unit accompanied by several police officers and two bulldozers.
Without issuing any kind of eviction order, or notification to the family, they proceeded to demolish the two houses of Mohammed’s sons and their families, and the tent where Mohammed himself has lived for five years.
Demolitions in Beit Hannina - Click for more images
When the the bulldozers arrived at the scene at 11 AM, the accompanying military assisted by shooting several teargas canisters throughout the small area. In addition to this they forced the men and women to step aside from the houses.
According to Mohammed they also arrested his grandchildren and beat them, while the bulldozers tore down their houses.
Since the military did not issue any kind of warning in advance, all of the family’s furniture and other belongings were still in the houses when they were torn down.
When the two houses and the tent, including their water tanks, had been destroyed, the military left the family who, with the help of friends and neighbours, started to collect the few belongings which might be saved.
A short while afterwards international observers and activists came to the location to record what had happened. Around 3 PM personnel from the Red Cross also arrived with tents for the family to stay in.
The Bedouin family of Mohammed Ka’abne, 67 years, includes his three sons and their respective wives and six small children.
Mohammed grew up in the South Hebron Hills from where he was forced in 1948, when he moved to Jericho, and some years later came to Beit Hannina.
According to Mohammed he had to spend several thousand shekels to buy a piece of land of 1500 m2, including money for a lawyer to get a building permit and money for the military to let him stay there. Muhammed also says that after having bought the land, he waited for five years for a building permit. He then realized that he couldn’t wait any longer and decided to build the two houses for the families of his sons and put up his tent, although he didn’t have the legal permit to do so.
Five years later the family ais now being forced to live in tents from the Red Cross.
Talking about the brutal way that the demolition was carried out Mohammed said, “If they would have told us to destroy the houses with our own hands we would have done it. But not like this.”
Beit Hannina is a Palestinian neighbourhood in East Jerusalem which has suffered from the establishment of Israeli settlements since 1970. In addition the area also took a heavy blow when the Israeli government started to build the illegal Segregation Wall straight through Beit Hannina in 2004.
The Segregation Wall now effectively cuts off the older part of the neighbourhood – Beit Hannina al-Balad – which is located in the West Bank, from the newer part – Beit Hannina al-Jadida – which is located on the other side of the wall.
A walk between neighbours before the construction of the Segregation Wall might take a few minutes has now been replaced by a bus or taxi ride around the wall and through the Qalandia checkpoint, which takes about 45 minutes, and which of course is not possible for Palestinians without Israeli citizenship.
The family of Mohammed Ka’abne live in Beit Hannina al-Balad, which is supposedly under the control of the Palestinian Authority, yet still the Israeli government decides who they allow to live here and for how long.
