Jerusalem, Oh Jerusalem

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. “
Matthew 27:37 – 38

The Old City within Jerusalem is an amazing place.  I can’t think of another city where Muslims, Jews, and Christians come as spiritual pilgrims. On any given day, you come across groups from all over the world exploring the roots of their faith, praying and worshipping.

Outside the Old City is East Jerusalem which is largely populated by Palestinians. I recently went to East Jerusalem for a field placement visit. Although my team assignment is in South Hebron Hills, the program encourages all Ecumenical Accompaniers to visit other placements and broaden our experience.

On my first day  with the Jerusalem EAPPI staff, we went to see a Palestinian family. Their home had been demolished about three days prior (see attached photo with the father of the family) by the Jerusalem Civil Authority.  They had built the house 6.5 years ago. The land has been in the husband’s family for awhile with ownership documentation but they did not apply for a building permit.  Approval for Palestinian residential building is very rare. Most Palestinians do not bother to apply for a permit.

After living in the house for a year, the family received notice of demolition orders. They hired a lawyer and received a court approved demolition delay for a year. The family continued to pay legal fees each year for the past 6 years with corresponding annual delays. Late in 2016, they applied again and received a delay until May 18, 2017. They are not sure why it wasn’t a year but were planning on applying for a delay continuation this month.

A demolition crew showed up to their home on May 8th. The family was not at home. The father was working. The three daughters were at school. The mother had a C-secton a month ago and she and their infant son were at a medical checkup.

Neighbors alerted them and the father was able to get back home before the demolition started. He showed the demolition crew the court approved delay until May 18th and they stopped demolition preparations.  However, the civil authorities went back to the court and had the same judge who approved the delay overrule himself.  About an hour later, there was a massive pile of rubble instead of their home.

In 2016, B’tselem (the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories) reports that authorities demolished 88 Palestinian residential structures and 48 other Palestinian structures rendering 295 people homeless including 160 minors. This is the largest number of demolitions in a single year since records began in 2004.

Why is this happening? According to B’tselem, Israeli authorities continue their discriminatory policies against East Jerusalem’s Palestinian residents as part of an overall plan designed to cause Palestinians to leave the city. Their actions are also part of efforts to achieve a demographic and geographic reality that would frustrate any future attempt to question Israeli sovereignty in East Jerusalem. In other words, the Jerusalem government wants to reduce the Palestinian proportion of its population which is currently about 37 percent.

If the May 8th demolition wasn’t enough of family trauma,  the city charged the family 50,000 shekels (about $12,000) for the cost of the demolition. This is standard procedure regarding Palestinian demolitions. In certain instances, families are  given advance notice and the option of destroying their own home. That “opportunity” was not provided to this family.

At first, the Jerusalem scripture reference of Jesus lamenting over Jerusalem may not seem appropriate but it came to mind as I saw the young mother of the family turn away from us to hide her tears when her husband recounted their story.

From MC blog