ZO serves 8 demolition orders in Silwan

Eight families in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan were handed orders announcing their homes were slated for demolition, as Zionist municipality workers entered the area accompanied by military guards on Wednesday.

The families targeted were identified as those of Azmi Ghanem, Fakhri Ghanem, Mu’een Al-Qaq, Fahmi Meswada, Talib Meswada, Marwan Ash-Shuyoukhi, Mousa Al-Haeiymuni, Naser As-Salfiti and the At-Tawils. All of the homes are in the At-Tanak and Wadi Hilwa areas of the neighborhood.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in 2009, 80 homes in East Jerusalem were demolished, displacing 300 individuals including 149 children. In the summer of 2009, 88 home demolition orders were handed out to residents of the Al-Bustan area of Silwan, part of a Zionist municipal city planning initiative that would turn the Palestinian neighborhood into a hotel and park.

Officials deliver warnings to West Jerusalem

In his statement, Shmerling also commented, “Please note that 22 warnings were also delivered today in the western part of Jerusalem.”

A 2008 report from the Israeli Coalition Against Home Demolitions (ICHAD) cited a Jerusalem Municipal officials as noting that 70% of the total fines to the municipality for building violations are paid by Palestinians, and 40% of the total number of demolition orders are issued to Palestinians. ICHAD noted:

“The reason for the discrepancy between percentages of fines collected and demolition orders issued is that the ‘illegal’ construction in East Jerusalem tends to be entire buildings while in the West Jerusalem (and the East Jerusalem settlements) it tends to be illegal additions to existing buildings.”