Demolition of Palestinians' Jerusalem homes surges
Israeli authorities have picked up the pace of destroying Palestinian homes in Jerusalem, which Palestinians blame in part on US officials' statements.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Fatima Abbasi left her Jerusalem home Nov. 19 to go to work. She was caught off-guard, she told Al-Monitor, when a relative called to tell her municipal workers, escorted by Israeli police, were preparing to demolish the house. By the end of the day, the structure was gone, and she and her four children were homeless.
Abbasi, a school teacher, said she had received no prior demolition notice or warning from the municipality that her 130-square-meter (1,400-square-foot) house would be destroyed. She and her family had to move into her father's home in Jerusalem while she looks for a house to rent.
Hers was not the only residence razed that day. Municipal workers and police forces stormed the home where Jerusalemite Magdi Aloun lived with his wife and four children, aged six months to 13 years. All the workers left was rubble.
Israel claimed both houses were built without permits.
