House demolition in Beit Hanina, Jerusalem
Demolition showing proximity to neighbour.
Appropriate sign.
Three generations of the Aweidah family, who used to live in the house.
"This morning, our family woke up at screaming voices at 4:00 a.m., and we started looking around and wondering what was happening, but we could not see anything. So we went up to the roof of the house (our house is 3 stories), and we saw tens of Israeli army, special troops, border police, ambulances, fire department cars, police cars, surrounding Abu Eisheh's house, who is our neighbour, ordering the family to leave the house because they wanted to demolish it," says Mira Rizek, the National General Secretary of YWCA of Palestine.
Abu Eisheh's apartment building consisted of four floors housing eight families in an up market area of Beit Hanina. It is described as having been the very best equipped building in the area. In the morning of the demolition, Abu Eisheh was in court trying to obtain permit for the top storey.
After having refused to leave for almost two hours, the families were pulled out by force. Some were beaten and had to be taken to hospital. The families were prohibited from removing any of their furniture, personal belonging and cars from the building.
The press and UN observers soon came to neighbouring houses, and the roof tops were filled with people taking pictures, filming and watching. At 9:00 am, the Israeli army ordered everyone to leave the roofs and they closed off a part of the main road leading to Ramallah.
Usually, when Palestinian owners receive demolition orders, they are given the option of demolishing their own homes. This was something the Abu Eisheh family refused to do. If the Israeli authorities complete the demolition, however, they send the bill to the owners, who have to cover the cost of demolishing, patrolling of police and all other related expenses. "So on top of becoming homeless, people have to cover the cost of injustice," says Mira.
At 5:30 pm the police and soldiers became very active and aggressive pushing the crowds to clear the area. EA Audrey Gray was pushed and punched quite unnecessarily by a small angry soldier. She asked him firmly but politely to stop, but he punched her in the back as soon as she turned around to go down the steps.
One of the locals informed Audrey that there would be an explosion at 6:30 pm, which indeed happened with military precision. The house collapsed in a pile of rubble, while helicopters flew overhead. "It was an utterly sickening and pointless exercise in the abuse of power," Audrey states.
When Audrey returned to the site a couple of days later, she found that a community tent had been erected in the back garden. A family member explained that they were trying to cope by using an old house nearby and staying with relatives.
