Across the narrow streets beneath the Old City, the thunder of excavation machines has become a new soundtrack of the neighbourhood. Since late 2023 the Israeli army has razed 59 Palestinian homes in the al‑Bustan section of Silwan, an area that lies immediately below the al‑Aqsa mosque compound. The demolitions have accelerated amid shifting global attention to conflict elsewhere, leaving residents in a state of uncertainty.
In a dusty living room, 58‑year‑old Fayez Awad explained that the house his family built over 50 years now stands in ruins. "We spent our whole lives building this house. They…brought us back to zero again, me and my children," he said, his voice thick with tears. Awad is one of many whose homes are slated for demolition under new municipal planning orders that Lebanon’s judges consider illegal settlement expansion.
The Israeli authorities, asserting that the area should turn into a biblical ‘King’s Garden’, have used court‑approved demolition orders to clear land that would later be allocated to Jewish settlers. In 2025 only 7 % of new housing permits in Jerusalem went to Palestinians, despite them constituting roughly 40 % of the city’s population. The state’s land‑registration system, launched in 2018, has been dubbed a tool for large‑scale appropriation and displacement.
While many families have already lost their doors, others are fighting legal battles. The Basha family, long residents of an ancient yeshiva that once held thousands of religious texts, have been ordered to vacate the building that locals still use as a home. Jerusalem’s District Court recently issued a temporary injunction preventing their eviction while the appeal sits in court.
Local activists, including Fakhri Abu Diab, argue that the bulldozers are part of a war of force entirely aimed at their community. “Israel is using the geopolitical situation to finish the issue…the municipality is waging a war of bulldozers against us,” he stated. Eleck on Matt court‐orders, 200 Palestinian households in East Jerusalem are facing eviction, mainly by settlers or the municipality.
The violence draws universal condemnation. The European Union recently declared the situation “dire” and reaffirmed its opposition to Israel’s settlement policy. New‑dressed and long‑suffering families like 97‑year‑old Yusra Qweider desperately await a global response of justice.
