Later on today I will be able to upload pictures but after the first two house demolitions which we missed we were called to another house where another organisation had been staying but could no longer manage. We somehow managed to get there (buses finished so had to take bus and walk) and luckily some friendly people gave us a lift - everyone here is incredibly friendly to us, much better than I've found anywhere else in the world.
This house was beautiful, it was an extended family where each 'part' of the family had a floor. The family has obviously done very well for itself and have been building it over 6 years but it was only 2 years ago that the Israelis authorities complained about it. They paid a huge amount of money for permission (over 1,000GBP) but were told they needed to pay more, money which they did not have to hand. The Israelis threatened to demolish the house therefore. This is bad enough except for the fact that there is a huge Israeli settlement, which I'm sure breaks many of the peace accords that have been signed and is built with no permission on the hill opposite. They have fantastic utilities whilst this house has very little - the roads are poor, other services are unreliable etcetera. This family also had a school built on their land by the government who never compensated them for it.
Therefore we spent the night in anticipation that the bulldozers might arrive in the morning (most houses have been demolished early in the morning and this one would take some time). The family had taken lots of steps to prevent the Israelis from entering in the hope that an upcoming court case would decide in their favour. We hoped that if they arrived we would prevent them from bulldozing as the family had arranged the money that had been demanded (bringing the total to around 5,000GBP) to be paid in the morning but only once post office opened. Once they brought the receipt it would guarantee no demolition today but it could happen on Thursday. In short they have spent a huge amount of money on planning permission with no guarantee the house will be kept.
Despite this huge worry they were incredibly kind to us, asking us about our lives at home. and feeding us incredibly well. Many of them were intelligent articulate and had a good knowledge of world affairs, philosophy etcetera and say all they want to do is live on the land that they have done for generations and are happy to live peacefully with the Israelis. The reason for demolishing the house, they believe, is so that more homes for Israelis can be built eventually forcing them out of the area and giving Israel more claim to this land.
The bulldozers did not arrive but we heard of other demolitions near Bethlehem but would not have had time to go to them. Its difficult to know what we have achieved in the last 24 hours. We haven;'t delayed any houses from being destroyed and have only really shown solidarity. Hopefully providing images of the destruction might make more people try and influence their governments but apart from that its not been brilliant. I'm going to have a few days off and then travel elsewhere, am not sure what yet but will keep posting as and when. Hopefully I will be able to bring good news about this house in a day or two. We've been told we will be welcome to come back anytime and I really don't think this is an empty promise. As we went to leave they were full of thanks, even though all we had done was drink and eat lots!
PS now that I have some free time I will upload some pictures and correct the spelling and layout of the other articles
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3 comments:
When a demolition gets in the news the reason given is normally that the house "was used as a base for terrorists" or that it was the home of a terrorist.
But from your description it seems that it is not much more that a protection racket - the authorities threaten to knock down a house, but might be persuaded not to if a lot of money is handed over.
Can you describe in any more detail the range of circumstances under which a house can be demolished?
jw
As far as I understand it most houses need planning permission but it is extremely hard to get for Palestinians. Many people do try and get planning permission but are turned down - this according to ICAHD (http://www.icahd.org) is more to do with leaving small enclaves of Palestinians leaving most of the land free for Israelis. Certainly all the houses I've seen have been close to Israeli settlements and building projects. It is much much harder for Palestinians to get permits than Israelis
Not even the israelis suggested that these houses were used by terrorists in the last few days. 10,00 homes have been demolished since 1967, very few of which have been accused of security offences. In 2003 in Nazlat Issa over 60 shops were destroyed but when you google this event you will find very few media outlets have covered it BBC News is the only major one to cover it however when homes of the families of suicide bombers are destroyed this makes the news.
As for the money required, in this last case it does sound dubious taht they have to pay again - I am not sure of the ins and outs of how much Israelis pay though so can't really comment
Are the number of houses demolished 1000 or 10000? Where is this documented?
I think it is great you are posting your experiences on this blog. I am from the US. I think most people here do not know the truth of what is happening in Israel and Gaza and the West Bank.
All of us who care about the plight of people who are oppressed and suffering injustice need to do whatever we can to get the truth out.
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