The Struggle Against Jerusalem's Quiet Ethnic Cleansing

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The Struggle Against Jerusalem's Quiet Ethnic Cleansing
Palestinians Face Home Demolitions Spree by Israel
By JONATHAN COOK
August 1, 2008
(counterpunch.org)

Inthefirst hours of dawn, Nader Elayan was woken by a call from aneighborwarning him to hurry to the house he had almost finishedbuilding. Bythe time he arrived, it was too late: a bulldozer wastearing down thewalls. More than 100 Israeli security guards held backlocal residents.
Thedemolition,carried out four years ago, has left Mr Elayan, his wife,Fidaa, who isnow pregnant, and their two young children with nowhereto live but asingle room in his brother's cramped home. It is the onlyland he ownsand he had invested all his savings in building the nowdestroyed house.
Overthepast few years, the Elayans' fate has been shared by two dozenotherfamilies in the Palestinian village of Anata, on the outskirts ofEastJerusalem. Hundreds more families have demolition orders hangingovertheir homes. "Not one person in my neighbourhood has a[building]permit," Mr Elayan, 37, said.
Theproblemof house demolitions affects Palestinians throughout theoccupiedterritories. But according to Hatem Abdelkader, an adviser toSalamFayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, the situation isparticularlyacute in the East Jerusalem area.
Henotedthat Israel's policy of refusing building permits to many of the250,000Palestinians in East Jerusalem has resulted in theclassification of20,000 city homes as illegal since the occupationbegan in 1967. Lastyear alone, the Jerusalem municipality issued morethan 1,000 demolitionorders for "illegal dwellings". It is believedthat three out of everyfour Palestinian homes in the city are nowbuilt without a permit.
"Illegalbuildingis simply a pretext for destroying Palestinian families' homesandlives," says Jeff Halper, head of the Israeli Committee AgainstHouseDemolitions (ICAHD).
"Thedemolitionsare part of a policy to stop the natural expansion ofPalestiniancommunities in and around Jerusalem, freeing up the maximumamount ofland for use by Israeli settlers," Halper continues. "Thedemolitionsincrease the pressure on Palestinians to move into the WestBank, sothat they will lose their residency rights in the city."
Inanact of defiance, Halper's organization and 40 internationalvolunteershelped the Elayans to rebuild their home this week in anattempt tohighlight what the committee calls the "quiet ethniccleansing" of EastJerusalem. The work was carried out during atwo-week summer camp fundedby the Spanish government. Madrid also paidfor 18 Spanish volunteers toparticipate.
"Thisisthe first time a government has supported the rebuilding of an'illegal'Palestinian home demolished by the Israeli authorities,"Halper says.
Theissueof house demolitions is back in the spotlight now after twoseparateincidents in July in which Palestinians, both of whom wereresidents ofJerusalem, rampaged through the city in bulldozers,killing threeIsraelis and injuring many more. Although the twoPalestinians were shotdead at the scene, Israeli officials, includingEhud Barak, the defenceminister, are calling for their homes to bedestroyed, making theirfamilies homeless, to deter others fromfollowing in their path.
Suchpunitivedestruction of homes was stopped in 2005, under the threat oflegalchallenge, but not before some 270 homes were razed on securitygroundsin the first years of the intifada.
AccordingtoHalper, however, the use of demolitions against Palestinians accusedofillegal building is a far more significant problem. "We estimatethatthere have been at least 18,000 homes destroyed during the fourdecadesof occupation."
Infact,Halper believes the true number of demolitions is likely to bedoublethe official figure. Many razings are unrecorded, carried outbyPalestinians themselves fearing a heavy fine if the Israeliarmyenforces the demolition order.
"Mostdemolitionsare of multi-storey buildings that are home to severalfamilies, meaningthat well in excess of 100,000 Palestinians may havebeen made homelessby Israeli administrative policies," he said.
Sinceitsfounding a decade ago, the Israeli Committee Against HouseDemolitionshas rebuilt 150 Palestinian homes as part of its campaignto bring theissue of demolitions to the attention of Israeli Jews andtheinternational community. It has been an uphill struggle, Mr Halpersaid.The European Union, which recently upgraded its relations withIsrael,announced this month that it was withdrawing ICAHD's funding.
Butthisyear's work camp may make the continuing demolition of homes inAnata alittle harder, Halper reckons "it's one thing to destroy ahomesupposedly built illegally by a Palestinian, but another to destroyonebuilt with money provided by the Spanish government."
Halperalso believes that, by exposing such groups as the summercampvolunteers to the Palestinians' plight, public perceptions maybegin tochange.
AlonsoSantos,a 21-year-old architecture student from Madrid, said he learntmuch fromseeing at close hand Palestinian life under occupation.
"Itwasan eye-opener to realise that the principles of urban planning wearetaught at the university are being used by the Israelis, but forexactlythe opposite purpose from the one usually intended. Theplanning ruleshere are designed not to improve the Palestinians' livesbut to makethem more miserable."
Thevolunteerswere hosted at a peace centre in Anata erected on the siteof SalimShawamreh's home, which was demolished four times byIsraeliauthorities. Known as Arabiya House, after Shawamreh's wife,thebuilding is decorated on one side with a mural depicting the deathofRachel Corrie, the US peace activist, by an Israeli bulldozer thathadbeen demolishing homes in Gaza.
"Imagineyourchildren leaving in the morning for school and returning later intheday to find their home, their whole world, has disappeared whiletheywere gone," Shawamreh said. "It's happened to my children fourtimes.It's cruelty beyond words."
Shawamreh,whosefamily were refugees from the northern Negev in 1948, said he andICAHDestablished the peace centre to highlight the plight of thePalestiniansin Anata. Today the house is overlooked by an Israelipolice stationacross the valley, part of the advance growth of a largeJewishsettlement, Maale Adumum, that Palestinians and Israeli humanrightsgroups believe is cutting the West Bank in two.
Thepeacecentre is also close both to the snaking route of Israel'sseparationwall and to a new bypass road – part of what critics call anapartheidroad system – being built to ensure that Jewish settlers candriveseparately from Palestinians across the West Bank.
Arabiya House is under a temporary reprieve from demolition while Israeli courts determine its status.
Halpersaysthe judges have been reluctant to confirm the destruction orderbecausehis group has threatened to take the case to the InternationalCourt ofJustice if the ruling goes against it.
Jonathan Cookisa writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest booksare"Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the PlantoRemake the Middle East" (Pluto Press) and "DisappearingPalestine:Israel's Experiments in Human Despair" (Zed Books). Hiswebsite is www.jkcook.net.