Land Research Center

The municipality of the occupation imposed on the citizen Atawan Al-Salaymeh, orders to demolish his house in the Ashqarya area in Beit Hanina, north of Jerusalem. On the morning of Wednesday, May 11, 2022, Al-Salaymeh, unwittingly, began the demolition to avoid huge financial penalties and fines, which he is indispensable at his age, who is over sixty-two, as he is unemployed and suffers from chronic diseases such as diabetes and stress.

The house has been inhabited since 2004 on an area of 200 square meters, and is divided into two apartments, each of which contains two rooms, a kitchen, a salon, and two bathrooms. The family consists of 11 members, seven sons, 3 of whom are girls.

Atwan told a researcher of the Land Research Center the following: “it cost me about one million shekels, or about 300 thousand US dollars at the time. This is in addition to fines”.

Mr. Atwan Al-Salaymeh added “that he had demolished part of the house in the past years with the aim of protecting the entire house, but the municipality, in the beginning of May 2022, informed him of the complete demolition of the house within a period of two weeks, and as a result he demolished, and the family was scattered with the him and his wife moved to live in Anata, and the son and his family had to move to Ras al-Amud”. In addition to the worsening health situation for them and their great sorrow for the loss of their home. The owner expressed this and wished “that it would be the last house to be demolished in Jerusalem, since the city has witnessed a very fierce attack in demolition and deliberate Judaization since 2016”.

The village of Beit Hanina is located to the north of Jerusalem, surrounded to the north by Al-Ram, to the west by Beit Hanina, to the west, to the east by the settlement of Bizgat Ze’ev, and to the south by Shuafat. Perched on its lands are the settlements of Bizgat Ze'ev and Al-Nabi Yaakov. There are many demolitions that take place on a regular basis, in addition to threatening many homes in the same area, as is the case with all the villages and neighborhoods of Jerusalem that are subject to displacement and Judaization. Knowing that at the end of last year, the occupation demolished houses such as the homes of Moath and Jalal Al-Rajabi, who live in the same area, and the remains of the demolition of houses turned the Ashqarya neighborhood into ruins.