Israeli Theme Park Project Forces Palestinians in Jerusalem’s Al-Bustan to Demolish Homes

In Jerusalem’s al-Bustan neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, Palestinians have been forced to demolish their own family homes to make way for a biblical theme park called the King’s Garden, with jackhammers and bulldozers shaking the ground just below Jerusalem’s Old City walls.

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AsatuNews.co.id

Jalal al-Tawil said he watched a tractor he had hired, with a front loader at the front and jackhammer at the back, rip apart the last remnants of the house his father built on the site of his grandparents’ home, and he said, “This is something really hard. This is something bitter.”

Middle East Eye

The Jerusalem municipality told al-Tawil it would cost him 280,000 shekels (£72,000) if its workers demolished the house, while hiring his own equipment and labour would cost him less than a tenth of that.

Al-Tawil left a thick knotty root of a 35-year-old grapevine until last, and he said, “It used to provide grapes for all of al-Bustan.”

More than 57 homes in al-Bustan, part of the larger Silwan district of East Jerusalem, have been demolished in the past two years with at least eight designated for demolition in the next few weeks.

Abu Diab, another resident in al-Bustan, said he was still clearing the 43,000 shekel fine the municipality charged him to mow his house down, and he also had to pay 9,000 shekels for the sandwiches the police ate while they were overseeing the operation.

Jalal al-Tawil described the decision as a forced choice, saying, “For him it was like being given the choice between suicide or being murdered, he said.”

The Guardian

The NDTV report said that if city bulldozers and security forces tear down a house, the family is billed for the entire cost, and it described the clearing as aimed at making way for the King’s Garden Park.

The Jerusalem municipality told the +972 news site that the theme park was “being constructed for the benefit of all city residents,” and it said the area “was never zoned for residential use.”

Aviv Tatarsky, a senior researcher at Ir Amim, said the project reflects an effort to erase Palestinians, telling NDTV, “Israel is not willing to recognise the bi-national, multi-ethnic, multicultural reality of Jerusalem and it is wiping out first and foremost Palestinians.”

The Guardian said the shadow of the King’s Garden theme park has hung over al-Bustan for nearly two decades, but it said the bulldozers had been held back until now by Palestinian resistance, combined with international opposition and ambivalence within Israeli politics.

“Palestinian families in East Jerusalem are actively demolishing their own homes to avoid devastating financial penalties and structural fees imposed by the Israeli-run Jerusalem Municipality”

NDTV

The Guardian added that “All three barriers have fallen since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks, the ensuing Gaza war and the restoration of Donald Trump as US president,” linking the shift in al-Bustan to those broader events.

It also quoted Mohammad Qwaider, a 60-year-old father of six, saying, “There are stray dogs who go around the neighbourhood at night who feel more safe and secure than we do,” after he demolished part of his home to appease city planners.

This week, Qwaider said a man from the municipality came to warn him that bulldozers would return to level the rest, and he said, “If they demolish our house, we will put up a tent. We will not leave.”

Middle East Eye reported that Israeli authorities forced a Palestinian woman, Awatif Mahmoud al-Ghoul, to demolish her own home in the al-Suweih neighbourhood of the city to avoid paying heavy fines and costs imposed by the municipality if demolition were carried out using its machinery.