The Israeli occupation municipality in Jerusalem forced seven brothers of the Al-Obaidi family to forcibly demolish their homes, displacing some 40 people and becoming doomed to live in a tent they had erected on the rubble, in their land in the Ashkariya neighborhood of the town of Beit Hanina, north of Jerusalem.
"I have been living here for 15 years, which means 15 years of suffering with the occupation government, and every two months is a tight hearing, sometimes it is extended and sometimes not, it was built for my seven brothers next to me 10 years ago, and in the end we all had the decision to demolish the administrative," said Ali Abedi, owner of one of the houses.
Obeidi added: “We are 7 brothers, and we have families numbering about 40 people, most of them are children under the age of 16. We decided to forcibly demolish with our own hands so as not to pay huge sums to the occupation municipality. ) And we rented another one for demolition, and now we are sleeping in a tent outside.”
The restrictions of the occupation did not stop here. During the past years, Ali paid a fine of 65,000 shekels, and his brother Mahmoud paid 35,000 shekels. As for the other houses, so far, they are still suspended in the occupation municipality, and no violations have been issued against them due to the measures to confront the Corona virus.
Regarding their feelings in these harsh moments, Abidi says: “Our feelings are never described, for 20 years we have been suffering, but thank God, God is greater than this injustice. It is a tragedy that a person demolishes his home with his own hands. Yesterday I went to the hospital with constant sadness and distress, dust, fatigue and exposure to the sun.” “.
His brother, Samir Obeidi, told, the reason for their decision to forcibly demolish, saying: “We have lived here for 10 years. During these years, the occupation municipality imposed demolition orders on us, the lawyer postponed them several times, and imposed fines on us, in this month and the next two months there. Courts until we demolish our homes or the occupation authorities demolish them and pay a fine.”
Obeidi added, “At the last court, they told us that this is our last chance and that we must demolish, so we preceded the decision and carried out the forced demolition so that we do not pay the sums of 100-200 thousand shekels for the occupation, and we sent the lawyer pictures of the demolition so that the occupation authorities do not come and disagree with us again, we are even these The moment we pay the fines of the past years.”
Obeidi believes that the aim of the occupation policies is to expel and displace them from Beit Al-Maqdis and Al-Ashkariya area in Beit Hanina; in order to build a new settlement.
Obeidi continued, "The occupation controls about 70 dunams here in order to implement its settlement plans, and they apply for licenses and obtain them directly, unlike what is happening with us!"
Despite these restrictions, Abidi affirmed their steadfastness in this land, and said: “We will not leave our land, we will build tents and live here. This is our land, we will die on it, and if they give us the whole world, we will not leave here, and we will live in Jerusalem for a lifetime.”
Children who were displaced and sat on the rubble of their homes, playing, and at the same time crying for what happened to them and their families, and this is the case of Jerusalemite children.
15-year-old Muhammad Ali Obeidi recounted his feelings in these moments, tears streaming from his eyes and a smile of steadfastness on his face, saying: “This is our land, our offer, we will sit in a tent and we will not leave it. Something hurts the heart, may God compensate us.”
He continued, “Everything was demolished, even the tent we set up to live in. The occupation municipality will definitely come and demolish it. We are here and there is not even a place where we change our clothes or use the bathroom.”
