Israeli Authorities Order Sur Baher Family to Demolish Home After 2014 Notice

In occupied East Jerusalem’s Sur Baher neighborhood, Basema Dabash said Israeli authorities issued a demolition order in 2014 and that in January of this year the notice arrived, with the family compelled to demolish their house on February 12.

Basema, 51, told Chronique de Palestine that if they refused they would have to pay the municipality the cost of the demolition, which she said can reach 100,000 shekels ($32,000), and she said they began breaking down interior walls and sent photos to the municipality to prove they had started.

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She said the family finished demolishing the eight-person home, including three children, but that it did not prevent a 45,000 shekel fine ($14,600) from arriving, which she said will be paid in installments through 2029.

Basema said the demolition has separated Mohammad’s family because his wife and their children had to go live with her family, and she added, "I find myself doing the dishes and tears streaming down my face."

In occupied Al-Quds, the Saba news agency said Israeli forces arrested three Palestinians from Silwan and Biddu on Sunday evening and issued a demolition notice for a home in Silwan south of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Saba reported that according to the Al-Quds Governorate, two arrests took place during a raid in Silwan while a third Palestinian was arrested in Biddu, and it said Israeli forces set up a checkpoint in Hizma and tightened restrictions at Qalandia causing traffic disruption.

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WAFA said Israeli occupation authorities issued a demolition notice on Sunday for the home of Maher Samer Sarhan in Silwan, after staff from the Israeli municipality raided the Al-Bustan neighborhood and handed him a notice ordering the demolition of his home that has stood for about 30 years and houses a family of four.

WAFA said the notice is part of Israel’s policy of demolishing Palestinian homes in occupied Jerusalem aimed at restricting the Palestinian presence in the city and imposing further facts on the ground, and it quoted the Jerusalem Governorate stressing that these policies form part of broader plans to reduce the Palestinian presence and expand Israeli settlement projects.

Human Rights Watch said in a statement cited by اندبندنت عربية that Israel is speeding up the demolition of homes and the expulsion of Palestinians in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem under the cover of fighting in Gaza and then the cross-fire with Iran.

“Under the pretext of the war in Gaza, Israeli authorities are intensifying demolitions in the Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem”

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The same report quoted Human Rights Watch saying, "This is a war crime, and governments around the world must respond with concrete and urgent measures," and it said the Holy See’s Jerusalem-based Orthodox Patriarchate protested against what it described as an illegal and improper seizure by Israel last Monday of land belonging to it in Silwan.

اندبندنت عربية also reported that Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Aryeh King said on his Facebook account that the municipality, with the accompaniment of Israeli police, moved on Monday to remove a trespasser who, according to King, had seized the land without a license.

The article said King added, "Very soon restoration works will begin, and when completed the site will be opened to the public," and it described Silwan as lying in East Jerusalem south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque along the southern wall of the Old City.