Dozens of Palestinian families in Qalandia village, located north of occupied Jerusalem, face the imminent threat of displacement after the Israeli occupation authorities issued final orders to demolish seven residential buildings. This Tuesday morning, occupation municipality crews posted demolition notices in the eastern neighborhood of the village, citing the pretext of building without a permit, which is rejected by popular and local activists in the area.
The occupation municipality specified in its notices a deadline not exceeding 21 days for residents to completely evacuate their homes, in preparation for the demolition operations. The Israeli authorities based their decision on a judicial ruling they claim has been in effect since the end of 2021, warning that they will not be responsible for any damage to property if the specified evacuation date is not met.
Local sources reported that the targeted buildings are not new, with the newest dating back more than twenty years, which refutes the occupation's claims regarding regulation and construction. The sources explained that the recent escalation in targeting this specific area is due to its connection with Israeli plans aimed at establishing a massive facility for burning and recycling waste in those areas.
The homes threatened with demolition are located on an area estimated at 15 dunams in the eastern part of Qalandia, an area very close to the entrance of the old Jerusalem International Airport. Approximately 40 Palestinians reside in these housing units, half of whom are children, facing an unknown future amid the occupation's insistence on forcibly annexing these lands to its municipal boundaries.
The residents of this area, numbering over 500, suffer from a suffocating siege imposed by the separation wall since 2002, forcing them to travel long distances and cross military checkpoints to reach the center of their village. This geographical isolation has made the eastern neighborhood of Qalandia an easy target for settlement projects aimed at changing the demographic and geographical reality in Jerusalem.
In a related context, the head of the Qalandia Village Council confirmed that the Israeli assault was not limited to demolition notices but also included decisions to confiscate 150 dunams of residents' land in recent months. These steps are part of a systematic policy aimed at controlling the eastern part of the village, which was isolated behind the wall, under the pretext of being within the administrative scope of the occupation municipality.
Local officials described the future of the village as bleak, warning that the completion of the waste recycling project and the expansion of the 'Atarot' settlement would completely suffocate the residents. Israeli plans include building 9,000 new settlement units on the lands of the Jerusalem International Airport, which will reduce the available area for Palestinians to its minimum, turning the village into a small enclave.
Historically, Qalandia village has been subjected to continuous confiscation and demolition operations since the 1970s, due to its strategic location near the industrial zone and the airport. Through these cumulative measures, the occupation seeks to end the Palestinian presence in the areas surrounding Jerusalem to ensure a continuous settlement geography that serves its long-term expansionist goals.
For its part, human rights organizations condemned these measures, considering them a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and fundamental housing rights. Al-Baidar Human Rights Organization affirmed that what is happening in Qalandia is a systematic forced displacement operation, calling on the international community and UN institutions to intervene immediately to stop the demolitions and protect families from displacement under the current circumstances.
The future of the village has become very bleak in light of the plans aimed at reducing the area of our lands from 4,000 dunams to only 150 dunams.
شارك برأيك
The occupation gives dozens of Palestinians a deadline to evacuate their homes north of Jerusalem in preparation for their demolition