Over 100 Palestinian Families in East Jerusalem Face Demolition of Their Homes
Residents have tried to prevent demolitions by proposing master plans, which include legalizing existing buildings. But after years of negotiations, the Jerusalem municipality hardened its stance.
by Nir Hasson 30 November 2021. Haaretz
More than 100 Palestinian families in East Jerusalem are in immediate danger of having their homes demolished after the Jerusalem municipality hardened its stance on master plans for the area.
A large clinic and hundreds of other buildings are also at risk of demolition in the near future.
There are currently some 20,000 illegal buildings in East Jerusalem, and demolition orders have been issued against thousands of them. Most were built illegally because the city’s Palestinian neighborhoods have no master plans that would enable legal construction.
Residents have therefore tried to prevent the demolitions by proposing their own master plans, which include the legalization of existing buildings. Negotiations with the city over these plans have gone on for years.
But recently, residents said, the planning authorities have hardened their position on these plans, reducing the likelihood of their acceptance. This in turn makes it harder to secure further postponements of the demolition orders.
On Sunday, the Jerusalem District Court rejected an appeal by 58 Palestinian families against the demolition of their homes in the Silwan neighborhood’s Wadi Yassul section. The last master plan approved for that area dates from 1977 and zoned it all as open public space. Residents have been trying to get it rezoned as residential for 15 years, but to no avail.
In her ruling, Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman noted that the area isn’t expected to be rezoned anytime soon, so the homes aren’t likely to be legalized anytime soon. Given the lack of any significant progress on this issue, she continued, there is no justification for postponing the demolition orders. This means the city can implement them immediately.
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“I’ve accompanied the residents since 2004 on a Via Dolorosa of plans prepared on the basis of empty promises and deceit,” said their attorney, Ziad Kawar. “The residents have spent millions of shekels on these plans, but in the end, [city officials] broke their promises, posed insurmountable obstacles and insist on implementing the demolition orders and throwing the families out onto the street with no alternative.”
A month ago, Jerusalem’s Court for Local Affairs also refused to postpone a demolition order in Silwan. A clinic operated by the Clalit health maintenance organization has been on the building’s ground floor for decades. Aside from regularly serving 5,500 residents, this clinic is the only one that provides PCR swab tests and coronavirus vaccines to tens of thousands of other East Jerusalem residents.
Ben Alofs
22:10
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