ICAHD Settlement Tour - East Jerusalem

Today was the first day of the Interfaith Peacebuilders Delegation with whom I will be traveling around Israel/Palestine until June 5th meeting with community leaders, activists, NGOs, and organizations in the community hoping to better understand the complexities of this contested land.

Our first meeting was with ICAHD, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition.  We met with Maya (really inspiring woman!), a young Israeli woman who refused to serve in the IDF (for which she served time in prison) and is now working as an activist doing educational work about home demolitions and solidarity work with Palestinians (East Jerusalem residents and Israeli Arab citizens).

Here are some of the things she told us, which really struck me:

• Proportionally, 36% of the Jerusalem municipal budget should be going to East jerusalem, but it only gets 7.25%.
• 22 000 houses in East Jerusalem are deemed illegal and 6 000 have pending demolition orders. Residents in East Jerusalem are unable to get permit to renovate or build on their properties and so, small changes like the addition of a balcony or making a former closet into a bathroom can render a house “illegal.”
• About 150 houses in East Jerusalem are demolished a year.  The demolition process involves a military surrounding of the house, a 15 minute warning to get their belongings and get out.  
• Some residents are charged both fines for the illegal renovations or building work carried out on their properties and the cost of the demolitions (bulldozer, army personnel, etc.).  This has lead to the phenomenon of self-demolition in which families pay to demolish their own homes knowing that this will be cheaper than what it could cost them if they are charged fines and fees.