Just a few hours on April 12 after enforcement authorities demolished the home that Tareq Habib built for himself in Kafr Kanna without receiving the proper permits, his friends and neighbors gathered to rebuild it. It took about an hour to lay the foundations and build the ground level. “We won’t abandon our lands here — over our dead bodies. We deserve to live like human beings,” Habib told journalists, who came to Kafr Kanna to cover the demolition of his home and the outrage of the villagers directed at the State of Israel’s harsh policies toward Israeli Arabs over the housing crisis and illegal construction in their settlements.
One day after the demolitions in Kafr Kanna, bulldozers showed up in the village of Dahamesh near Lod, to tear down illegal buildings erected by the Asaf family. Walid Asaf, the owner of one of the homes that was demolished, told the media, “Anyone familiar with Dahamesh knows that we are doing everything we can to obtain recognition, status and permission to build homes. We’ve taken it as far as the Supreme Court. They tore down some homes today, but I am not giving up. This is our land. We were born here, and we will die here.”
