Israeli forces have demolished a Palestinian home on Wednesday, January 19, 2022, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem.
The demolition comes two days after Israeli forces arrived to evict the Palestinian residents following a decision by the Jerusalem municipality to confiscate the land.
Israeli police published footage of people being led away from the property with their hands tied, as means to show that they have made arrests.
At least 18 other Palestinians, who were present at the home in solidarity with the family were arrested.
Residents had barricaded themselves at the home on Monday, January 17, 2022, with some climbing onto the roof with a gas cylinder.
Mahmoud Salhiyeh, who is head of the household, disclosed he would set himself and the house alight if security forces moved in to evict his family.
“I will burn the house and everything in it,” Mahmoud Salhiyeh said as he stood on the roof of his home surrounded by gas canisters. “I will not leave here, only from here to the grave, because there is no life, no dignity”.
Mahmoud reiterating what he has been through over the past years said “I’ve been in battle with them for 25 years, they sent me settlers who offered to buy the house and I did not agree.”
The residents lost a legal challenge against the property being seized and police said the family had been given “countless opportunities” to hand over the land.
The family intimated they moved to Sheikh Jarrah before Israel gained control of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Israeli’s Justification
Israeli authorities have justified the demolition exercise saying, they (Israeli authorities) have built a special education school for the residents of the neighbourhood.
One of the family members, Yasmeen Salhiyeh, 19, said the Israeli forces cut electricity supply to the house and fired tear gas canisters around the house. She told the media that some 50 officers “raided the house and began beating up the men in the family. They also assaulted my aunt”
Yasmeen also said, “they pulled my father (Mahmoud Salhiyeh) out of his bed, beat him along with my brothers and cousins” before arrests were made, “without giving them the chance to put clothes on”
Hours after the demolition exercise had ended, with the Israeli forces pulling out, lawyers of the family still have no information about the whereabouts of those arrested.
A final Israeli court hearing for the family’s displacement was set for Sunday, January 23, 2022. The law has it that forced displacement in occupied territory is a violation of international law and a war crime.
Jawad Siam, Head of the Wadi Helweh Information Centre monitoring Group, arrived at the scene at about 3:30 am (1:30GMT). He told the media that there were “about 200 police, border police, Yammam and special forces” at the scene.
“There was hope that the family would have more time,” Siam said. “The lawyers had put in a request to extend the time for the demolition. They were expecting that it would be temporarily halted.”
The home of the Salhiyeh lies on the main street in the flashpoint neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, about one kilometre (half a mile) north of Jerusalem’s Old City walls. Many families in the neighbourhood face imminent expulsion by Israeli authorities.
Mohammad Abu al-Hommos, a local activist, described the demolition exercise as “revenge”.
“The Israelis just wanted to prove that they could get to the family even if the family managed to block the demolition for 48 hours,” he told the media at the scene.
“They wanted to demolish the spirit of Mahmoud’s family, to kill its history and its memories. Mahmoud’s parents were displaced once before from Ein Karem, and here they are in 2022, they’re being displaced again,” added Abu al-Hommos.
Meanwhile, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), at least 280 Palestinian households in Jerusalem consisting of 970 people, including 424 children, are at risk of forced displacement by Israeli authorities.
Read Also: Court issues Bench Warrant for the Arrest of Mark Okraku Mantey
