A Photo Essay of Monday's House Demolitions

Paraska already wrote a beautiful summary of two house demolitions in East Jerusalem (7/13/09).  It is impossible to recreate the emotional intensity of a demolition, but I hope to show something more human than zoning law statistics. 

I received an SMS message about a demolition in Beit Hanina first thing in the morning, then rushed there in a taxi with Paraska and other ICAHD (Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions) interns.  ICAHD gets advance notice of demolitions on rare occasions, and then activists will sometimes attempt to block the bulldozers.  Usually, we receive a call when residents see bulldozers in the neighborhood, so we have very little information and rush to find the site on time.  Today, we wandered around Beit Hanina in pursuit of bulldozer-like sounds, at one point ending up at a construction site.

We finally found the home of the Ala Abed Elrzaq Elshawaki family in the al Ashkriya neighborhood of Beit Hanina.  The family of seven (one couple, four children, and one grandmother) lived in the house for two years before the issue of the administrative demolition order. This neighborhood is marked as a "Green Area" on the Jerusalem master plan, meaning that no licenses may be issued for building, and all houses in the area are officially illegal and subject to demolition.

 Police officers depart the demolition site. 

A long procession of police follows the bulldozers out of Beit Hanina. 

Neighbors, family, and media gathered around the site as the grandmother tearfully climbed through the rubble, pointing to the former locations of rooms and nursing her wrist, which she alleged was hit by police while she resisted the demolition. One man, allegedly the brother of the landlord, was arrested while resisting the demolition.

An ambulance takes the grandmother away.

Usually, house demolitions happen one after the other.  One taxi of interns followed the bulldozer across the center of Jerusalem,awaiting the next demolition, and trying to be as discreet activists as possible.

Sudri, a police commander who we met in Silwan, the site of the second demolition.  While trying to keep us away from the house, he explained that he oversees about three demolitions per week.  Seeming an innocent tourist, I asked him if he ever oversees the demolition of Israeli homes due to permit issues, to which he responded, "Of course not.  Israel is the land of the Jews."  He was, however, quite friendly, and even gave me water when I was dehydrated.

The house of Jamel Msalmeh's family of 17, in the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood of Silwan. 

Neighbors watch as police guard the home.

Soon after the police and bulldozers leave, the family gathered in despair, surrounded by Palestinian media. [Photo credit: Paraska]

Two members of the Msalmeh Family [Photo Credit: Paraska]

A moment of sad quiet.

Young boys angrily threw pieces of concrete rubble into the demolition site, a pathetic attempt at damage next to the bulldozers.

The children seemed completely bewildered, too young to understand zoning laws and permits.  To them, a demolition looks like a simple yet grave act of hate.

A mother comforts her son beside the bulldozer's tire tracks on the pavement.

Women console each other in the rubble.