Arbitrary demolition policy in Jerusalem

Israel has escalated its arbitrary demolition policies in the city of Jerusalem, with the aim of displacing, removing and expelling the people of Jerusalem from their homes, facilities and lands to which they cling, as they represent a symbol of their existence and express their pride, especially since it is the land of their fathers and grandfathers.

More than 12,000 homes are listed on the demolition schedule in Silwan alone, and about 23,000 homes, the total that the occupation municipality plans to demolish during the next few years in the entire Jerusalem Governorate, and everything is being done under the cover of the comprehensive aggression against the homeland, which extends its chapters to include the city of Jerusalem as well, through its unjust Judaization procedures, and at the forefront of this series are the successive violations of demolishing homes and displacing Jerusalemites.

In Silwan, specifically in the Al-Bustan neighborhood, which was a source of wealth that the people of Silwan lived on in the beginning, where the historic Silwan spring was located, from which the Al-Bustan trees were watered, grew and blossomed, and gave the place its value and pride, the occupation insisted on starting a systematic policy of demolishing its homes, which threatens more than 1,500 citizens living there, as its bulldozers and military vehicles demolished seven homes in one day, the Tuesday before last, and returned on Wednesday morning to continue the demolition operations, where they uprooted the Al-Bustan tent, which was a landmark and symbol, on which the people of the neighborhood pinned their hopes and wishes, and which was a center for their steadfastness and insistence on remaining in this historical area of land, in addition to demolishing the Al-Bustan Center, which is supported by France, and which embraced hundreds of children, as it was a distinct space to unleash their skills and creativity.

The occupation municipality and its mayor exploited the state of war to increase the pace of home demolitions in Jerusalem. The demolition massacre occurred the day before last Tuesday, on the date of the US presidential elections, in order to reduce the severity of international criticism and the world’s preoccupation with these elections. Despite this, the extremist minister Itamar Ben Gvir insists that the demolitions are to regulate the lives of residents, under the pretext of demolishing illegal, unlicensed buildings. In fact, the problem is borne by the occupation municipality, which adopts a policy of discrimination between the two parts of the city, as it grants licenses to Israelis and allows them to build more homes and settlements, while depriving Jerusalemites of obtaining the necessary licenses to build homes, and imposing heavy fines and financial violations on them. At the end of years of paying huge sums of money in fees, the municipality carries out the demolitions, and often imposes self-demolitions on them.

Israel aims through these operations to displace the people of Jerusalem and empty the city of its people and residents. These are serious violations that cross all red lines and must be confronted firmly. All international institutions must move quickly to stop this criminal series that targets the lives of the people of Jerusalem and threatens them with forced displacement from their homes and their lives.