Demolitions in Jerusalem area, July 2022: Israeli authorities demolish 10 structures; 18 people, including 10 minors, lose homes

Throughout July 2022, on orders of the Jerusalem Municipality and the Civil Administration, 10 structures were demolished in the parts of the West Bank annexed to Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries and in adjacent areas lying within the al-Quds District of the Palestinian Authority. The demolished structures included four inhabited homes, and their demolition left 18 people, including 10 minors, homeless. Parts of three additional homes were demolished by their owners and one by the authorities.

In addition, the authorities demolished six non-residential structures, four of which were used to support 80 families.

Demolitions

On Monday, 4 July 2022, at around 7:00 A.M., Jerusalem Municipality personnel arrived with a military escort and a bulldozer at the neighborhood of a-Sawahrah a-Sharqiyah (near the a-Shayah Checkpoint), which was annexed to Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries but remained beyond the Separation Barrier, and demolished an addition to an ancient stone structure designed to support it. The structure is unoccupied.

That morning, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and a bulldozer at the town of a-Za’ayem in al-Quds District and demolished a room used for agricultural purposes and recreation belonging to a family of five, including two minors. The structure was rebuilt after it was demolished by the authorities last June.

On Thursday, 7 July 2022, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a Border Police escort and a bulldozer at the village of a-Nabi Samwil in northwest Jerusalem. The forces destroyed two agricultural plots, uprooted 13 fruit trees and demolished a shack used as a car wash, an agricultural structure and a structure used as a livestock enclosure and chicken coop. The destroyed farmland and structures supported several families numbering 50 people in total, about a third of them minors.

On Tuesday, 19 July 2022, at around 6:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and a bulldozer at the neighborhood of ‘Anata in al-Quds District, where they demolished the homes of four families numbering 18 people in total, including 10 minors. The homes were rebuilt after they were demolished by the authorities on 29 June 2022. In addition, the forces demolished a stone fence erected around a vacation home under construction intended to support two families numbering 25 people in total, including 10 minors.

On Saturday, 23 July 2022, at around 10:00 A.M., a family of four, including one minor, was forced to demolish an addition of a room, bathroom, and kitchen to its home in the Jabal al-Mukabber neighborhood in East Jerusalem, following a demolition order issued by the municipality.

On Sunday, 31 July 2022, at around 10:00 A.M., a family of five, including three minors, was forced to demolish an addition to its home in the neighborhood of Zur Baher in East Jerusalem, following a demolition order issued by the municipality.