Nov. 30, 2009 issue
House demolitions create fear for Palestinian family
By Gladys Terichow Mennonite Central CommitteePage:
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ANATA, East Jerusalem — A Palestinian family clings to the hope their newly rebuilt home won’t be demolished as it was 10 years ago.
Dalal Duwaik, with granddaughter Nada, clings to hope that her family’s newly built house won’t be demolished like an earlier one was 10 years ago. — Photo by Ryan Rodrick Beiler/MCC
“I live in fear. I expect any second that the bulldozer will be here to demolish the house,” said Dalal Duwaik, a mother of six children.
Many Palestinian families whose houses have been demolished or who live under the threat of demolition share her fear.
More than 24,000 Palestinian houses have been demolished in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza since 1967, said Jeff Halper, founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, or ICAHD. The Israeli peace and human rights organization is committed to stopping the demolition of Palestinian homes in the Israeli-occupied territories.
It is nearly impossible for Palestinian residents to get building permits because of Israeli government building policies that discriminate against Palestinians, Halper said.
Authorities said the Duwaiks’ first house was demolished because it was built without the proper permits.
Mennonite Central Committee has been supporting ICAHD activities since its inception in 1997.
“Based on our Christian faith, MCC works toward justice and peace for all people, and we partner with Palestinian and Israeli organizations who share our concern for justice and peace for all people,” said Rick Janzen, MCC Middle East programs director.
Duwaik recalls the excitement she and her husband, Mohammad, felt in 1998 when they invested their savings to buy a plot of land of 2,600 square feet on the outskirts of Anata and started building a 500-square-foot house.
They had been living in a one-room apartment in the basement of a house owned by her husband’s parents and wanted to raise their six young children in a house with windows located on a yard with a garden.
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