Demolitions in Jerusalem area, January 2022: 30 structures demolished; 78 people, including 37 minors, lose homes

Throughout January 2022, on orders of the Jerusalem Municipality, the Civil Administration and the Ministry of Interior, 30 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. Twelve of the demolished structures were homes: one was still under construction and slated to house a family of seven, including five minors, and the 11 others (five of which were demolished by their owners) housed a total of 71 people, including 32 minors, who were left homeless.

The 18 remaining structures were not residential, and 13 of them were used for businesses that supported at least 45 people.

Demolitions:

On 1 January, a family of seven, five of them minors, was forced to demolish its own home in the neighborhood of Wadi Qadum, following a demolition order issued by the municipality. The house was still under construction.

That day, a resident of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood was forced to demolish three commercial structures he owned, one of them housing a coffee shop, following a demolition order issued by the municipality.

On Tuesday, 4 January, at around 5:00 A.M., municipality personnel arrived at the neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukabber with Israel Police and Border Police officers and demolished a structure housing a medical clinic.

The forces then completed the demolition of a home in the same neighborhood that belonged to a family of 11, five of them minors, which they began demolishing on 14 December 2021.

At around 8:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived at the area of a-Za’ayem, al-Quds District, with a crane truck and soldiers and confiscated a shipping container used for agricultural storage.

At around 9:00 A.M., municipality personnel came with Israel Police and Border Police officers and a bulldozer to the neighborhood of Beit Hanina. They demolished an apartment on the second floor of a two-story building housing a family of six, three of them minors.

On Wednesday, 5 January, at around 10:00 A.M., municipality personnel came with Israel Police officers and saws to Bab al-Maghariba (Dung Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City), where they demolished the home of a family of six, including four minors.

On Friday, 7 January, a family of five, three of them minors, was forced to demolish a living room it had added to its home in the neighborhood of Ras al-'Amud, following a demolition order issued by the municipality.

On Sunday, 9 January, a family of seven, including one minor, was forced to demolish its own home in the neighborhood of Zur Baher, following a demolition order issued by the municipality.

On Monday, 10 January, at around 8:00 A.M., municipality personnel came with Israel Police and Border Police officers and equipped with a bulldozer to the neighborhood of al-’Esawiyah and demolished a carwash and a structure used as an office that were owned by a family of five, including three minors. The forces also destroyed a shipping container used for agricultural purposes, as well as a stable. They then proceeded to the neighborhood of Um Tuba, where they destroyed the foundations of a graveyard, where work on 20 graves had begun.

On Thursday, 13 January, a family of four was forced to demolish a commercial structure it owned that was still under construction in Shu’fat R.C., following a demolition order issued by the Ministry of Interior.

On Monday, 17 January, at around 8:00 A.M., municipality personnel arrived at the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah with Israel Police and Border Police officers. The forces demolished a structure used as a barbershop that supported a family of seven, including three minors. They also demolished a 600-square-meter compound with two structures that served as a plant nursery, which supported four families totaling 20 members, and a carwash that supported a family of seven, including three minors.

Later that day, a family of seven, five of them minors, was forced to demolish its own home in the neighborhood of Beit Hanina, following a demolition order issued by the Ministry of Interior.

On Tuesday, 18 January, a resident of Jabal al-Mukabber was forced to demolish a structure that housed three businesses – a restaurant, a convenience store and an electrical appliance store – following a demolition order issued by the municipality.

On Wednesday, 19 January, at around 3:00 A.M., municipality personnel came with a bulldozer and an Israel Police and Border Police escort to the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah and demolished two homes belonging to two families with a total of 13 members, including two minors.

Later that day, a family of eight, including two minors, was forced to demolish its own home in the neighborhood of Wadi al-Joz, following a demolition order issued by the municipality.

On Tuesday, 25 January, at around noon, municipality personnel came with Border Police officers and a bulldozer to the neighborhood of a-Tur. They demolished the second floor of a two-story building, which had two apartments housing two families with a total of 13 members, eight of them minors.

On Monday, 31 January, two families belonging to the same extended family and totaling 11 members, 7 of them minors, were forced to demolish their own homes in the neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukabber, following a demolition order issued by the municipality.