Image By AP

Written By Dana Nazha

The forced displacement of Palestinians in their homeland, Palestine, hinders the development of their communities as it forces families to search for more dignified and safe conditions. Demolition orders are usually targeted at Palestinian residential structures that tend to offer Palestinian communities essential services and income generation such as local and international organizations. 

“The soldiers came to demolish our home, but we’ve rebuilt it five times,” Said Neiji, a 10-year-old from a Bedouin community in South Hebron Hills. “Every time we build it, they come and demolish it again.”

After the army came to destroy Neiji’s home, his friends stopped coming over, because there wasn’t anything left to play with. His family’s home has been demolished a total of five times, so the family is now living in a small tent above their demolished home and a cave underneath the house. Their poor living conditions do not permit them to have a kitchen or a restroom. 

“I felt afraid and sad about the house, but my father told us that we were going to rebuild it and if they come to demolish it, we’ll keep on rebuilding. Our home was beautiful, it was the best home,” added Neiji.

According to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs, the rate of Israel’s destruction of Palestinian-owned properties in the West Bank has been significantly increasing at a rapid pace under the ruling of the new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. 

“The future lies in the Palestinians being cordoned off into these tiny little ghettos. And all the land surrounding these ghettos will slowly be taken — be stolen — for Israeli settlements”, said Diana Buttu, a Palestinian-Canadian lawyer and scholar, in an interview with The Intercept. 

The year 2021 hit the second-highest level on record of Israeli-enforced demolitions of Palestinian structures. The number of demolitions surged to 907, which is most likely to be an undercount since some events take time to be reported or are never even reported. 

According to Amnesty Internationals’ recent long report, demolitions have long been a key tool used by the Israeli government that only seems to be accelerating this year. Ever since the occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967, Israel has demolished around 28,000 Palestinian homes. In fact, according to the United Nations, most of the demolished homes were considered to be “illegal” by Israeli authorities, since they were constructed without a permit. However, more than 94% of the applications that were filed by Palestinian homeowners were rejected. 

Hundreds of Palestinian families are threatened to have their homes demolished. For example, Al-Walaja is a small agricultural town on the outskirts of Jerusalem. The town predates Israel’s settlement. Yet over 300 residents’ homes that are constructed without permits are at risk of being demolished. 

Forced displacement also disrupts the livelihoods of Palestinians and leads to long periods of instability. Families would be forced to move multiple times before finding a permanent place to settle again. Some families are also forced to be involved in unsafe coping strategies such as engaging their children in child labor or child marriage, sheltering with strangers in public buildings, and decreased health and food expenses. Thereby, displacement increases the vulnerability of women and heightens problems such as poverty and health-related issues. 

Speaking of children and family members who deal with the trauma of losing their homes, some kids (18%) would no longer have access to their original schools, yet other ones (46%) would be forced to take long and dangerous journeys to reach their original schools. 

While the international community fails to hold Israel accountable for its human rights violations, Israel’s discriminatory policies will continue to take away Palestinian’s identity and heritage. A UK-based charity conducted interviews with over 200 Palestinian families, and found that 80% of the children interviewed have “lost faith in the ability of not just the international community but also the authorities and even their parents to help and protect them.” 

“It used to take me five minutes to get to school, now it’s an 80-minute round-trip and I have to walk in all seasons,” said the 14-year-old, Nour, in an interview conducted by Save the Children. “My parents are very worried about my safety but still support me. Nonetheless, I’m always driven by my belief that I can improve my life through education.”