Demolishing houses, destroying peace
It is always early in the morning, but you never know which morning it will be. There is a knock on the door. You are ordered to evacuate. You scramble to save what you can, piling your belongings on the pavement. A bulldozer appears. Within minutes, it is over. Your home is a pile of broken cinderblocks and twisted steel.
Thousands of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories live with the knowledge that any day, their homes could be demolished. Discriminatory planning laws mean that many Palestinians are forced to build "illegally" to house their families. The Municipality of Jerusalem has a budget set aside for house demolitions, but Palestinian families must often pay a fine and themselves cover the cost of destroying their homes.
Save the Children says house demolitions create significant trauma, destroy coping mechanisms and breed tension in family relationships. With the effects most deeply-felt by children, the long-term impact on hopes for peace is immeasurable.
These photographs are from four recent demolitions; three in East Jerusalem in 2008-9 and one in the village of Khirbet Tana, Nablus Governorate, in January 2010.
Photos: Mats, Jenny, Gianluca, Henrique, Paul, Kerstin, Karen; EAs in Jerusalem and Yanoun.
