[ In 2020, 140 Palestinian families lost their homes, about double
the number in 2019, a surge in Israels ethnic cleansing many see as
part of a "100 year Zionist project" to appropriate "Jerusalem whole
and united." ] [[link removed]]

ANOTHER NAKBA: 'THIS IS MY HOUSE, THIS IS MY DOOR, YOU ARE A THIEF'
 
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Abby Zimet
May 3, 2021
Common Dreams
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_ In 2020, 140 Palestinian families lost their homes, about double
the number in 2019, a surge in Israel's ethnic cleansing many see as
part of a "100 year Zionist project" to appropriate "Jerusalem whole
and united." _

An older Palestinian woman confronts taunting settlers newly
ensconced in her house., Twitter photo. Front photo by AFP.

 

While the world turns away, "there is fuel in the air" as a record
number of Palestinians in and around occupied East Jerusalem lose
their homes, either pitilessly razed by middle-of-the-night bulldozers
or brazenly seized by jeering Israeli settlers with the so-called laws
of occupation on their side. In 2020, 140 Palestinian families
[[link removed]] lost
their homes, about double 
[[link removed]]the number in
2019, a surge in Israel's ethnic cleansing many see as part of a "100
year Zionist project" to appropriate "Jerusalem whole and united." The
escalation comes amidst a recent wave of violence
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Palestinians who've been protesting the closure of the iconic Damascus
Gate during Ramadan; hundreds have been injured by mobs of Jewish
settlers shouting "Death to Arabs" and "Burn them!" in the name of
"restoring Jewish dignity."

As a result of the multi-pronged assaults on Palestinian rights, the
city is "on the brink of explosion"
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this, despite the claim 
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a breathtakingly arrogant, ignorant Jared Kushner that "we are
witnessing the last vestiges" of the decades-long conflict, which he
terms a "real-estate dispute." "Kushner regrets nothing," says one
critic, "because he has God on his side." Israel's latest surge in
forced removals has prompted threats
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retaliation from Hamas and ongoing Palestinian protests,
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police have met with teargas, attacks and arrests, further inflaming
emotions and giving rise
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a young, fearless, leaderless new Palestinian resistance 
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"expulsion at the barrel of a gun." "It is a Nakba," say Jerusalem
residents, some of whom see the theft of homes and land where their
ancestors lived and died. "We are seeing our neighborhoods being wiped
out in front of our eyes."

Many of the forced removals 
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in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah
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residents have been fighting 
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months-long battle against both Jewish settlers who want their homes
and an unjust "settler-colonial court, judge and jury" with little
interest in challenging ownership claims by what remain illegal
settlers. In the latest clash, an Israeli judge just ruled
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six Palestinian families of 27 people fighting eviction have until
Thursday to "reach a deal" with the settlers trying to steal their
homes, urging Palestinians to concede the settlers' ownership and pay
them rent - a demand they rejected. "These are our homes," they
assert, "and the settlers are not our landlords."

"All my memories are here - it's like uprooting me," says 
[[link removed]]one
resident. "Every stone in this house tells a story about me. My school
days were here, my children grew up here, everything is here." From
another, "All the atrocities in the world don't exceed 10% of what
they do to us in order to expel us from our own homes." Meanwhile,
anguished scenes play out 
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media. An older Palestinian woman confronts smirking settlers newly
ensconced in her house: "This is my house, not yours." Surly settler
behind gate: "I'm here now." Woman: "This is my house, this is my
door, you are a thief." Settler: "The court gave it to me. This place
is only for Jews." Her plaintive query: "Who do you ask for your
rights, when the judge is your enemy?" Across Sheikh Jarrah
[[link removed]], many older
residents have voiced their rage and grief by spray-painting on walls,
"We will never leave." But their powerlessness is palpable. "If this
is not an occupation, what is?" asks a pained neighbor of the
wide-ranging devastation
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sign of one protester: "Sheikh Jarrah Is Palestine."

In areas adjacent to East Jerusalem where it's impossible to get a
building permit, _+972 Magazine_ tracked
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of the last year's demolitions of homes lovingly and often legally
built under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority because,
Israeli officials argue, 
[[link removed]]homes too near
the separation barrier "limit operational freedom" and may "shelter
terrorists."

They destroyed the house Ihab Hassan Ali built for his family in
Shuafat Refugee Camp 30 years ago, long before there was a barrier -
he served tea in his garden to barrier workers - and sent him a
demolition bill equal to the cost of a home: "You buy from them what
they destroyed." They razed the house Ahmad Abu Diab built in Silwan -
he and his family moved to a relative's living room - but he refused
to leave the area: "My grandfather's grandfather is buried here."

A phalanx of bulked-up, bellicose soldiers - "Let's start the break
in!" - came 
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bulldozers to demolish
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house Ismayil Abadiya proudly, painstakingly, legally built in Wadi
al-Hummus for his five kids: "They came in throwing punches, and
tossed us out like garbage." Video of the chaotic night shows soldiers
breaking down the door, pushing crying kids outside, screaming, "Leave
this place!" Asks one older son, "Why are you treating us like
criminals?" Says a tearful Ismayil, "To destroy this house, to me,
it's like (an) early death." For his kids, he worries, "It means I am
a zero, nothing. I can't even protect my home." "This country," he
goes on. "We don't know how to live with it. I don't ask for
anything...I just need them to let me live, with my family, in my
house. It's a simple request." The video ends with a searing image: He
stands, then sits with one of his grown sons as bulldozer-laden trucks
roar past. Ismayil weeps. His son sits staring, seething, stone-faced,
fists clenched, remembering.

_Ismayil Abadiya watches the harrowing destruction of his home with
his sons. Photo by Rachel Shor_

_Sheikh Jarrah. Twitter photo._

_Ihab Hassan Ali stands on the remains of his family home in Shuafat
Refugee Camp, East Jerusalem. Photo by Rachel Shor_

_Sheikh Jarrah: "We will never leave." Twitter_

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_The Occupation in Sheikh Jarrah. Twitter_

_ABBY ZIMET has written CD's Further column since 2008. A longtime,
award-winning print journalist for newspapers and magazines, she lived
in the Maine woods for about a dozen years before moving to Portland
in 1983. Having come of political age during the Vietnam War, she has
long been involved in women's, labor, anti-war, social justice and
refugee rights issues._

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