East Jerusalem residents anguished as homes demolished to make way for biblical park

Yusra Qwaider is 97 years old, bedridden and helpless: within days, bulldozers from the Jerusalem municipality will come to tear down the home she's lived in for over 50 years.

If the demolition in the Al-Bustan neighbourhood goes ahead, it will be the third time she's lost her home -- this time to make way for an archaeology and tourism park in the Silwan area just outside the Old City.

"I don't know what to do... I want to stay in my home," she told AFP from her bed in the house where she lives with 12 family members that the municipality says is illegal.

"When it was built in 1970, there were no permits. We have tried every legal avenue," said her son Mohammed Qwaider, his face a picture of angst.

Israeli NGO Ir Amim says demolitions in Al-Bustan have increased "dramatically" since Hamas's October 2023 attack, with the threat hanging over "the vast majority" of its 115 homes.

So far this year, 17 homes have been razed, compared with 13 in 2025 and 24 the year before, said the NGO, which works for an "equitable" sharing of the city.

It blamed the acceleration on a "sudden decision" by the municipality to halt talks with residents over "a proper housing solution for the area".

Thousands of homes in annexed east Jerusalem were built without permits, which its Palestinian residents say are almost impossible to obtain.

The municipality did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

- 'The King's Garden' -

Standing by a mountain of rubble where five houses once stood, residents' committee head Fakhri Abu Diab told visiting diplomats the municipality "wants to demolish all 115 houses by October".

"We ask you to prevent this, to let us stay in our homes. This is a political decision, and world leaders are doing nothing. You must do something," he pleaded.

"It's a war crime what they're doing, demolishing homes and displacing us. We have nowhere to go," said the 64-year-old, whose own home was demolished in 2024.

At issue is the expansion of the City of David archaeology and tourism project in Silwan, believed to be the original site of ancient Jerusalem.

Razing Al-Bustan aims to make way for the adjacent "King's Garden" park for visitors to the City of David, which is run by the Elad settler organisation.

Peace Now's Yonatan Mizrahi said Elad employed different strategies for taking over specific areas of Silwan.

"You have very few archaeological finds in Al-Bustan, so they're saying there's a biblical narrative about the king's garden and it 'probably' was where Al-Bustan is today," he said.

Ahmed Tibi, Israel's most prominent Arab lawmaker, said the main goal was "the Judaisation of Silwan" at the expense of its Palestinian residents.

"After October 7, there's been a huge difference. They felt they could get away with everything," he told AFP.

If the evictions are not stopped, over 2,000 Palestinians living close to Jerusalem's holiest sites risk being displaced in "one of the largest waves of expulsions in east Jerusalem since 1967", Ir Amim warned.

- Not allowing Palestinians to build -

City councillor Laura Wharton, who represents the liberal Jerusalem Union alliance, said the most punitive element was the lack of building permits.

"Far worse than the demolition is the fact they're not allowing Palestinian residents to build," she said.

"Your average Silwan resident doesn't have his house recognised, doesn't have a building permit, doesn't have a place to park -- the primary services they get are demolition services."

Not so for the Jewish residents.

"In the 20 or 30 years of demolitions here, not a single settler house has ever been demolished," Wharton said.

That reality is not lost on Al-Bustan locals.

"That Israeli is allowed to build; look, he's 50 meters away, no-one's stopping him. But for us it's forbidden," 60-year-old Omar Abu Rajab said bitterly, as he began razing his own home.

When the demolition order for his one-bedroom house was issued, he decided to self demolish to avoid the exorbitant costs of the municipality doing it.

So far, he's racked up 64,000 shekels ($21,400) in fines, and if the municipality razed his house, it would cost tens of thousands more.

At the house, two of his grandsons have skipped school to help, swinging mallets at its plasterboard walls.

"We've lost everything, even though we own this land," he told AFP, saying he and his wife would move into his brother's house -- which is facing the same fate.