Israel resumes demolishing Jerusalemites’ homes, Amends laws to facilitate confiscating Palestinian lands

By: Madeeha Al-A’raj
The national Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements stated in its latest weekly report , that in August, 2023, the Israeli Gov’t approved what it falsely called the 5-year plan to develop East Jerusalem, at a cost of NIS 4 billion that reduces the social and economic disparities between the ‘parts of the city’, the plan and its disparitieswere over due to the war on Gaza, but matters settled on more Judaization and Israelization operations, settlement belts and plans, the latest of which was what the Israeli Land Authority published regarding an auction no. 367/2024 to establish a new settlement in Beit Safafa, in which it requested proposals to purchase the rights to the land, which is about 11 dunams in the neighborhood, south of the Talpiot industrial zone, to build a settlement neighborhood that includes about 200 housing units, inaddition to more restrictions on Palestinian citizens with the aim of changing the demographic reality in the city so that their percentage of the total population in the city in both parts decreases from 40% to only 20. The tools of the policy of displacement and silent ethnic cleansing practiced by the Occupation Authorities are numerous, including the policy of house demolitions, which is practiced on a large scale in various neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.
In this regard, Israeli media reported news on the demolition of Palestinian homes and facilities in the city. They are planning to demolish the Al-Bustan Neighborhood in East Jerusalem and displace the Palestinians of the neighborhood from their homes. Two weeks ago, the occupation municipality in Jerusalem demolished 7 residential apartments and a small community center in the Silwan Neighborhood, and evacuated more than 30 Palestinians from their homes. The Occupation Authorities chose the appropriate timing for this harsh operation, as the first demolition took place simultaneously with the US presidential elections. Residents of the neighborhood say that the municipality exploited this to escape criticism and condemnation from the international community.
It is known that negotiations regarding voluntary evacuation have been taking place between the municipality and the residents of the neighborhood for years, but the demolition operation in the current circumstances has been put on a hot plate. In this regard, the Ir Amim Association confirms that the Jerusalem Municipality is under the influence of the Israeli far right and the police of National Security Minister Ben Gvir, and that the demolition of homes in East Jerusalem aims to demolish the entire Al-Bustan Neighborhood and displace 1,500 of its residents. The association previously reported that the Occupation Authorities had demolished more than 140 homes and housing units in East Jerusalem since the beginning of the war in Gaza.
According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, Israel destroyed 128 Palestinian buildings in East Jerusalem between January 1 and August 2 of this year, 19 of which were in the Al-Bustan Neighborhood, displacing 52 of its residents. The Jerusalem Governorate, in turn, recently confirmed that the occupation authorities had carried out 320 demolitions, including more than 87 in the town of Silwan since October 7, 2023, and explained that there are more than 30,000 properties in East Jerusalem threatened with demolition, which would lead to the displacement and economic losses of the lives of about 100,000 Jerusalemites.
Demolition notices knock the doors of citizens homes, who have decided not to deal with the policy of self-demolition of their homes and facilities, which the occupation municipality is trying to impose on them. The Jerusalem Governorate said in a post that the people of Silwan and the committees for defending the town s lands decided not to demolish their homes with their own hands, no matter how much the fines are, and that they will be demolished by the occupation s machinery, which blackmails the people of Jerusalem and tries to push them to demolish their facilities and homes themselves´-or-to pay heavy fines if its machinery does so, as part of absorbing international reactions, considering the demolition and the resulting forced displacement a violation of international law and acts that amount to war crimes.
Especially since there are 22,000 homes and facilities in East Jerusalem, 7,000 of which are in the Silwan town, which the municipality and the so-called District Committee for Building and Planning claim are illegal and that a number of homes and facilities were demolished without notification,´-or-without waiting for a "judicial" decision regarding the demolition. The governorate stated that the town of Silwan in particular is being systematically targeted, especially the neighborhoods of Al-Bustan, Wadi Al-Rababa, and Wadi Qaddum, due to their proximity to Al-Aqsa Mosque, to implement the occupation’s plans to demolish them to create the so-called ‘Biblical Gardens’ and ‘King’s Garden’ on the ruins of homes and on the lands of the neighborhood’s owners.
The ‘Al-Bustan Neighborhood’s issue dates back to 2004, when the occupation municipality decided to demolish the neighborhood ‘100 houses inhabited by 1,550 people’ to establish ‘King s Park’. A year later, it began distributing demolition orders to the residents, and after international pressure, the demolition decisions were frozen. Over the past years, the residents tried, through engineering teams and lawyers, to submit alternative organizational plans to preserve the existence of the neighborhood, while taking into account the conditions imposed by the municipality.
In 2021, the municipality rejected the plans and returned to distributing notices and decisions to the residents. During the last months, the occupation municipality has intensified the repeated incursions into the neighborhood to notify the residents and demand that they carry out the demolitions themselves. The occupation municipality also began the ongoing demolition operations in the Al-Bustan Neighborhood.
Ben-Gvir has put the policy of house demolitions and ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem on the agenda of his ministry and the police. Correspondence in a WhatsApp group between National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and a number of his advisers, all of whom belong to the terrorist right and have been convicted of incitement to racism, confirms that Ben-Gvir adopts the advice of the leader of the racist terrorist movement ‘Lehava’, Benzion Gopstein.
Although Ben-Gvir denied that Gopstein was working as his advisor, correspondence in the WhatsApp group confirms otherwise, according to a report published by Haaretz. Gopstein called for the police, under orders issued by Ben-Gvir, to carry out operations in occupied East Jerusalem. He wrote in the WhatsApp group that “we should think about something that Ben-Gvir could do: assassinations, collecting weapons, closing neighborhoods.” The “Lahava” organization is considered one of the most important racist right-wing organizations that adopts hate speech, in word and deed, against Palestinians in various areas, especially in the occupied Jerusalem.
In the West Bank, an Israeli ministerial committee is currently examining a bill that would change the conditions for land ownership. Religious Zionist MK Moshe Solomon has submitted a bill to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation that would allow settlers to purchase Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank -dir-ectly and without restrictions. This would change the conditions for purchasing land, which prohibit Israelis from purchasing Palestinian land -dir-ectly, but only through companies registered with the Civil Administration, and after obtaining a permit from it. The new bill, titled “Cancellation of Discrimination in Land Purchases in Judea and Samaria –i.e. the West Bank,” which MK Bezalel Smotrich previously submitted, would allow settlers to purchase property and real estate throughout the West Bank without any oversight´-or-restrictions, which would open the way for fabricated deals and fraudulent operations.
The Religious Zionism party, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, is pushing for the annexation of the West Bank and calls for large-scale and unrestricted settlement there, building on the appointments of US President-elect Donald Trump, including the nominee for ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who supports settlement and annexation of the West Bank. The Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported that the relevant Israeli ministers will soon meet to consider the bill, which would simplify the process of Jews acquiring land in the West Bank, and that the bill would cancel the current Jordanian law that-limit-s the possibility of buying´-or-renting West Bank land.
The explanatory notes to the bill submitted by Solomon claim that Jordanian legislation dating back to 1953 was designed to prevent the leasing´-or-sale of real estate to people who do not hold Jordanian citizenship, with the aim of restricting Jewish acquisition of land. The occupation government issued a -dir-ective in 1971 allowing Jews to circumvent restrictions by purchasing West Bank land through companies registered with the Civil Administration in the West Bank instead of the Israeli Companies Authority, and noted that restricting the right of Israeli citizens to obtain land based on their nationality alone is unacceptable.
If the Ministerial Committee for Legislation approves the law tomorrow, it will move to the Knesset for discussion. The Knesset must approve the law in a preliminary reading before 3 additional readings before it becomes law. The Peace Now movement commented on the law, stressing that this is an annexation step initiated by the Christian right, and stipulates that settlers can purchase land without supervision throughout the West Bank, and turn the settlers into those who have the authority and the command in the West Bank.
On another level, the US Treasury Department announced last Monday the imposition of sanctions on the Israeli organization ‘Amana’ and its subsidiary ‘Binyanei Bar Amana’ for financing and supporting settlement activities and individuals involved in violence against Palestinian citizens in the occupied West Bank. The ministry confirmed in a statement that ‘Amana,’ which works in the field of building and developing settlements, is expanding the construction of settlements in a way that threatens peace and stability in the region. Under these sanctions, the assets of the organization and its subsidiary in the United States are frozen, and any financial transactions with them by American individuals´-or-institutions are prohibited.
But what is the“Amana” organization? It is an organization founded in 1979, with the aim of encouraging, supporting and financing settlement in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the occupied Syrian Golan, and in the Galilee and Negev in the occupying state. Its activity is currently focused on the West Bank, and since 1989, Ze’ev Hever has been its chairman through its two branches, ‘Bar Amana Construction and Real Estate Development’ and ‘Al-Watan’. Its activities include encouraging the absorption of settlers, planning and establishing new settlements and outposts, and assisting the authorities in those settlements. Its assets, according to some estimates, amount to hundreds of millions of shekels, but its influence on life in Israel is very broad, according to ‘Marker website’, the economic appendix of the Hebrew newspaper “Haaretz.”
According to Haaretz newspaper, Amana operates illegally and plays a major role in establishing illegal agricultural outposts. In recent years, these areas have become associated with settler violence against Palestinians, because of Amana’s status as a cooperative, there is no way to look at the financial cycle it generates, and it has no obligation to be transparent. The Israeli human rights movement Peace Now has estimated its assets at NIS 600 million. Amana’s subsidiary, Al-Watan, made headlines years ago when an investigation by journalist Raviv Drucker for Channel 10’s “HaMakoor” program revealed that it was seizing Palestinian-owned land using forged documents.
According to optimistic estimates, the sanctions will affect about 60,000 settlers with American citizenship, most of whom live in the settlements of Efrat, Neve Daniel, Kiryat Arba and Yitzhar, and a number of outposts and pastoral farms. It remains unknown whether the sanctions will affect those living in Jerusalem settlements such as Gilo and Ramot.

List of Israeli Assaults over Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
o Excavating works at the Petra Hotel in the Bab al-Khalil area, removed large quantities of soil and construction waste in an area belonging to the Roman and Latin Diors. and the Islamic Waqf Department.
o Approving a Judaization project in Bab al-Khalil, one of the gates of the Old City, last January, and allocated a budget of NIS 40 million for it.
o Forcing Alaa Matar to demolish his own house, which consisted of two apartments that housed his family and the family of his brother Louay Matar in the Jabal al-Mukaber.
o Demolishing walls and entrance of a residential building belonging to the Zahdeh family in the Ras Khamis Neighborhood in the Shuafat camp, and a house belonging to the Zahdeh family in the Ras Khamis Neighborhood in the Camp, as well as a garden, a hut, and a studio in the town of Rafat belonging to citizen Nabil Mazraawi from the Beit Surik town.
o Demolishing a commercial store in Qalandia and arbors for selling vegetables and fruits, while its machinery began to bulldoze lands located between the towns of Qalandia and Rafat.
o Demolishing the Al-Shiyah Mosque in Jabal al-Mukaber,, which was built 20 years ago on an area estimated at 80m2m consists of one floor and an external courtyard.
o Storming the “Kastro” Café in the Musrara area to implement a decision to vacate the property in favor of settlers under the pretext that it is owned by the Custodian of Absentee Property.
Ramallah:
o Tourching 2 vehicles belonging to citizen Hassan Rajab Sandouqa in the Al-Mazra’ Al-Gharbeiah village, Ramallah.
Hebron:
o Attacking farmers and shepherds, insulted them, and beat citizens from the Jabour and Nawaj’a families, including a woman, and injured them with bruises, some of them admitted to the Yatta Governmental Hospital.
o Demolishing an inhabited house belonging to sons of Jamal Zagharneh, agricultural barracks with an area of more than 350m2, a water well, and destroyed a number of fruit trees in the Um Sidra and al-Tina areas, belonging to Jamil Zagharneh in the Arab al-Freijat area in al-Ramadin.
o Erecting a tent in the Tel Rumeida Neighborhood near the new spring with the aim of controlling the area near the “Ramat Yishai” settlement in the center of Hebron.
o Chasing shepherds and preventing them from reaching the pastures, while settlers released their flocks of sheep and cattle near the homes of citizens in the “Fatah Sidra” area in Masafer Yatta.
o Desecrating a mosque in Khirbet Marah al-Baqar in Dura city, chanted racist slogans. Installing a caravan on citizens’ lands near Khirbet Samri, on the eastern side of Shaab al-Batm in Masafer Yatta.
o Storming the Saddat al-Tha’laba Gathering in Masafer Yatta, detained a number of citizens, searched homes and caves, punctured tires of an agricultural tractor, and stole monitoring cameras, fired sound bombs and toxic gas at citizens, including children, assaulted a number of workers while picking olives in the Farsh al-Hawa area, west of the Hebron.
Bethlehem:
o Attacking residents of the Al-Minya desert area, east of Bethlehem, and tried to steal some livestock. They threatened the residents with the necessity of evacuating the area within ten days, but the citizens confronted them.
Nablus:
o Launching a large-scale attack, burning agricultural rooms and a vehicle in the Beit Furik town after infiltrating the western area. The Beit Furik Municipality explained that the settlers also burned a room and its contents, destroyed a water tank belonging to Ahmed Nasasra, smashed the windows of 2 houses belonging to Obada Malitat, smashed furniture in a room belonging to Hazab Nafi Hanani, burned an electricity pole and furniture in the yard of Mah’d Hanani’s house, and smashed an electricity pole belonging to the Beit Furik Electricity NetworkM. Injuring Yousef Nasasra, 15, prevented farmers from picking olives, expelled them from the Wadi al-Azab area near the “Itamar” settlement west of the town under the pretext of canceling coordination.
o Uprooting 42 fruit trees, beehives, walls and stone chains, belonging to citizen Hamza Al-Hamami, under the pretext of building without a permit in the New Nablus area,
o Forcing the family of citizen Ali Eid Ara’ra to evacuate their home and land near the Ein Duma area, at gunpoint in the village of Duma,.
o Demolishing a barracks in the Qablan village, belonging to Al-Adili Marble Company, opposite the Qablan Gas Station.
Salfeet:
o Demolishing an inhabited house in the Al-Mureij area in the Deir Ballot town, and a carpentry shop on an area of 1dunum, belonging to Adel Yousef Abdullah, without prior warning, as Abdullah was unable to empty the contents before the demolition.
Jordan Valley:
o Rehabilitating a water spring by settlers in the northern Jordan Valley, Um al-Jimal area, after seizing 3 months ago, while the Occupation Authorities demolished the homes of citizens in the area in the Bedouin community, which includes 14 Palestinian families, who depend on raising livestock for their livelihood, and were forcibly displaced during August.
o Attacking a truck driver, Moh’d Qandil, from Jericho, before and arrested him and prevented Red Crescent crews from providing him medical treatment.
o Notifying the cessation of work in 11 residential facilities and another for raising livestock in the Hamamat al-Maleh area, belonging to Tariq and his brother Ali Hamid Ka abneh, and to stop work in 3 ‘barracks’ for raising livestock, and 2 residential rooms, belonging to ciitizens: Mujahid Suleiman Ahmed Sawafta, Anwar Jamil Mah’d Sawafta, and Khaled Rushdi Sawafta from the Bardala village.
o Seizing5 water pumps placed on a number of springs used to irrigate crops, 3 electric generators, and 30 solar panels, leaving nearly 600 dunams, planted with grapes and corn, without a water source in Khirbet al-Deir.
o Erecting 2 tents and placed a water tank in front of them to control the land and establish a settlement outpost in theRas Ein Bedouin community.

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