The nightmare of demolition and ethnic cleansing threatens about 150 homes and facilities in the town of Jabal Mukaber, southeast of occupied Jerusalem, due to the Israeli Kaminitz law, and in favor of the expansion of the settlement "American Street", which devoured hundreds of dunams of the town's lands.
The Kaminitz law was approved in late 2017, Amendment No. 116 to the Planning and Building Law. The law sets impossible conditions for extending orders to demolish unlicensed homes in Jerusalem.
According to this dangerous law, in the coming days and months, the city of Jerusalem may witness record numbers of demolitions, up to 250 homes and facilities, about half of them in Jabal Mukaber.
Jabal Mukaber is a small Jerusalem village with an area of 5,021 dunums, located on a high hill overlooking Silwan and the Old City. The Israeli occupation divided the village and separated part of it, the Sheikh Saad neighborhood, and annexed it to the West Bank. The occupation also separated the Al-Sawahrah Al-Sharqiya area from the Al-Sawahrah, and divided it into 3 areas, namely Al-Sawahrah Al-Gharbiyeh, Al-Sawahrah Al-Sharqiya, and Al-Sheikh Saad.
The residents of the area suffer daily, due to the demolition and construction halt notices, in addition to the establishment of settlement projects, bypass raods, hotels and commercial centers in the area, with the aim of restricting the residents to force them to emigrate.
Anticipation and fear
The residents of the Jabal Mukaber area live in a state of intense anticipation and fear, because of their fear that the occupation will demolish their homes at any moment, and expel them in the open.
The residents say: "The demolition of our homes is an act of killing us and erasing our existence. We will stay and will never leave. Jerusalem was left alone, and if we do not act, we will have neither a home nor an existence." The residents also affirmed that they will defend themselves and hundreds of homes threatened with demolition within a few months in Jerusalem, most of them in Jabal Mukaber, stressing that efforts and legal solutions to avoid the massacres of demolition will be completely powerless.
The people called to stop the policy of demolishing homes and ethnic cleansing in Jerusalem, sending a message to the occupation that the will of Jerusalemites is solid, and that its racist policy will not deter them from defending their homes.
Demolition massacres
A member of the National and Civil Action Committee in Jerusalem, writer Rasim Obeidat, stated that there is a systematic Israeli policy to demolish the homes of Jerusalemites in the city of Jerusalem in general, and the Jabal Mukaber area in particular, whether under the pretext of the so-called Kaminitz law, administrative demolitions, or demolitions of unlicensed houses.
Obeidat adds, "We are facing extensive demolition operations that the occupation municipality will implement in Jabal Mukaber in the coming days, with the aim of implementing displacement and ethnic cleansing policies in the Holy City, and changing the geographical and demographic reality in favor of the illegal Israeli settlers."
Jabal Mukaber is considered one of the most affected towns in Jerusalem by the demolition policy, as there are about 150 homes that have been classified for rapid demolition because they are located on the road called "American Street", as part of the expansions taking place there.
The American Street starts from the far southeast of Jerusalem near the Beit Sahour area and the settlement of "Har Homa", passing through the towns of Sur Baher and Jabal Mukaber, then through a tunnel that starts from the town of Silwan at the bottom of the Mount of Olives and ends at the Al-Zaim Military Checkpoint.
According to Obeidat, the occupation authorities devoured hundreds of dunams of the town's lands, in favor of establishing the settlement street, which led to the demolition of homes.
The Israeli policy of demolition and eviction threatens more than 20,000 Jerusalemite homes, under the pretext of building without a permit.
The Kaminitz law grants wide powers to carry out demolitions in Jerusalem. The maximum extension that may be given to the citizen is one year, and then the Israeli municipality and the Israeli Ministry of Interior carry out the demolition process, and no authority is granted to extend the demolition again, in order to speed up the process of demolishing homes, and not to give courts the opportunity to continue the extension.
Confrontational steps
Obeidat warned of the danger of this law to Jerusalemites and their homes, stressing that international and humanitarian law, and international embassies and consulates must be employed to stop demolitions in Jerusalem, and to impose sanctions on the Israeli occupation authorities, considering that its practices amount to a war crime.
He explains that the occupation authorities aim, behind the demolition of homes, to complete the implementation of their settlement and Judaization projects in the city, in order to serve the illegal settlers and settlements there, and to transform Jerusalem's villages and towns into scattered and unconnected areas.
Regarding the mechanisms and steps necessary to confront the policy of demolition, Obeidat asserted that this requires political will and the prosecution of the occupation in international courts, given that the occupation practices constitute a violation of international law and international conventions.
As for the popular level, it is necessary to confront and move widely, and for these movements not to be limited to one region without another, in order to confront the projects and plans of settlement and Judaization in Jerusalem.
Obeidat also stressed the need to develop a comprehensive and clear Palestinian strategy to confront the crimes of the occupation in Jerusalem.