JERUSALEM (AFP) – Ratib Matar’s family is growing. They needed more space. Before the birth of his four-year-old and her five-year-old granddaughter, he built three dwellings on the eastern slopes overlooking the landscape of ancient Jerusalem. A 50-year-old builder has moved in with his brother, son, divorced daughter, and young children.
But Matar was never comfortable. An Israeli law enforcement officer could knock on his door at any time and get everything.
That moment was January 29, just days after Palestinian gunmen killed seven of them in East Jerusalem. It was the deadliest attack in the disputed capital since 2008. Not only will it be sealed, but it will also include the immediate demolition of dozens of Palestinian homes built without permission in East Jerusalem, among other punitive measures.
Just hours after Ben-Gvir’s comments, the first bulldozers stormed his Matar’s Jabal Mukaber district. For many Palestinians, the increasing pace of housing destruction has been linked to a new ultranationalist government over control of East Jerusalem, which was occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war and claimed by Palestinians to be the capital of a future independent state.
The battle is being waged over building permits and demolition orders — and Palestinians believe they can’t win it. Israel says it will enforce only building codes.
According to the United Nations, Israel destroyed 39 Palestinian homes, buildings and businesses in East Jerusalem last month, displacing more than 50 people. This was more than a quarter of the total number of demolitions in 2022. Ben-Gvir posted a photo on Twitter of bulldozing Matar’s house.
Most Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem were built without permits, which are difficult to obtain. A 2017 United Nations study described it as “practically impossible” to secure them.
The penalty for illegal construction is often demolition. If families don’t demolish their homes themselves, the government hires them to do the work. Matar is afraid of his bill. He knows his neighbor who paid him over $20,000 to demolish his house.
Now homeless, Matar and his family are staying with relatives. He vows to build again on land he inherited from his grandparents, despite not believing in the Israeli legal system.
Daniel Seidemann, an Israeli lawyer who specializes in the geopolitics of Jerusalem, said that since 1967, the government has built 58,000 of his homes for Israelis and less than 600 of his homes for Palestinians in the eastern part of Jerusalem. said, citing government statistics offices and his own analysis. Meanwhile, the city’s Palestinian population has increased by 400%. The Israeli city map shows the state parks surrounding the old city, with about 60% of Jabal Mukabel designated as green space and closed to Palestinian development. At least 20,000 Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem are scheduled to be demolished, the watchdog said.
There are no reliable figures on permit approvals, but in 2019 the Israeli community booked just over 7% of its housing plans for 21,000 Palestinian homes, reports anti-settlement advocacy group Ir Amim. I’m here. Palestinians make up nearly 40% of the city’s one million inhabitants.
Arieh King, Jerusalem’s deputy mayor and settler leader acknowledged that the demolition has helped Israel strengthen its control over East Jerusalem, home to the city’s major religious sites. Protests against the demolition have rocked East Jerusalem in recent days. Two weekends ago, her 13-year-old cousin in the family was gunned down and arrested after shooting at Jewish settlers in the Silwan district across the valley, injuring two people,
