In East Jerusalem, ‘a whole Palestinian community is about to be expelled’
Israel is forcing out Al-Bustan’s 1,500 residents to build a biblical theme park. To avoid paying huge fines, families are demolishing their own homes.
Omar Abu Rajab packed his belongings into black trash bags. A few days earlier, while the 60-year-old was grieving the recent loss of his mother, representatives of the Jerusalem Municipality had knocked on his door and served him a demolition order for the small apartment he shares with his wife in Al-Bustan — a section of the Silwan neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem that is currently at the heart of a rapidly intensifying Israeli expulsion campaign.
Faced with the demolition order and the prospect of a fine worth thousands of dollars for the trouble of having his house razed by the municipality, he chose not to wait for the bulldozers. Instead, he opted for the cheaper option: tearing his home down himself.
The Jerusalem Municipality claims that homes like Abu Rajab’s were built illegally, without the necessary permits. “There are no permits,” Abu Rajab told +972 Magazine, explaining that Israel makes it almost impossible for Palestinians in East Jerusalem to receive the necessary authorization to build legally.
Over the past decade, Abu Rajab has already been forced out of two other homes elsewhere in Silwan; one was demolished by the municipality, while the other he demolished himself.
“I am still paying penalties from a previous home they demolished years ago,” he explained. “I am sick, and I work four hours a day, but I can’t keep up with all these costs. There’s nothing else I can do. It’s cheaper to do it ourselves.”
Omar Abu Rajab packs his belongings into trash bags before demolishing his own home to avoid paying high municipal demolition fees, Al-Bustan, Silwan, occupied East Jerusalem. (Faiz Abu Rmeleh)
A few days later, three of Abu Rajab’s grandchildren skipped school to help with the demolition, bringing their own hammers to tear down the walls. Abu Rajab and his wife have since moved in with his brother’s family next door, all of them squeezed into a small apartment.
Homes in Al-Bustan have long been slated for demolition under municipal plans to replace the residential area with a biblical theme park. But after a legal battle spanning two decades, Israeli authorities have stepped up their efforts to cleanse the area of Palestinians amid the Gaza war.
This pressure has intensified further in recent weeks, with police raiding the area together with representatives of the municipality to deliver a wave of orders warning residents to demolish their homes themselves or bear the costs. The entirety of Al-Bustan — comprising 115 homes and approximately 1,500 residents — is now under demolition threat.
“It is a whole section of Silwan slated for demolition,” Aviv Tatarsky, a researcher with the Israeli non-profit Ir Amim, told +972. “A whole community is about to be expelled.”
‘We have nothing else’
According to Ir Amim, the plan for a theme park in Al-Bustan is part of a broader effort to strengthen Israeli control over the Old City of Jerusalem and its surrounding neighborhoods (known collectively as the “Old City Basin”) through the expansion of tourist attractions and national parks, including on church-owned land such as the Mount of Olives.
Lying immediately east of the Old City, Al-Bustan is close to another section of Silwan, known as Batan Al-Hawa, that is facing a similar expulsion campaign led by Israeli settler organizations.
Israeli flags hang from the balconies of formerly Palestinian homes taken over by Israeli settlers in Batan Al-Hawa, Silwan, occupied East Jerusalem. (Faiz Abu Rmeleh)
According to the Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate, Israeli authorities demolished 185 structures in the city in the first four months of 2026. Out of 40 homes destroyed in April, 17 were demolished by their inhabitants.
Throughout Al-Bustan, a sense of defeat is palpable. Many residents, such as Hatem Baydoun, see self-demolition as the lesser of two evils. “If we let the municipality demolish our home, we will have to pay tens of thousands of shekels,” he told +972. “So we decided to do it ourselves.”
Two doors down, 60-year-old Mohammad Qwaider is facing the same impossible choice. He lives in a family building with his bedridden 97-year-old mother, Yusra.
The six-unit building was built in 1970, with additional floors added as the family grew; Qwaider noted that there were fewer building restrictions in the earlier years of Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem, following the 1967 War.
Early last month, he explained, “the municipality ordered me to demolish the apartment on the third floor or they would come and demolish it themselves, so we did that.” But after demolishing that apartment, which was home to one of his sons and grandchildren, the municipality has now ordered him to demolish the entire building, citing a lack of permits.
This time, he refuses to comply. “They can demolish it, and I will clear the rubble and put a tent there to live in. The land is more important than the structure on it.”
His wife, Manal, agrees. “We don’t sleep at night,” she said. “We have no alternative to this house or this land. We have nothing else but this place.”
Children from the Odeh family watch a neighboring family demolish their own home in Al-Bustan, Silwan, occupied East Jerusalem. (Faiz Abu Rmeleh)
‘Double the suffering’
According to Tatarsky of Ir Amim, the sharp increase in demolitions in Al-Bustan was triggered by the Jerusalem Municipality’s sudden decision to suspend all negotiations with residents aimed at reaching a housing solution.
“Israeli authorities want to turn Silwan into an Israeli settlement and are using all kinds of methods to do it,” he explained. “They are using the [excuse of] building without a permit, but it is impossible for residents to get permits. So Israel can call all the homes in this whole part of Silwan illegal.
“The authorities have a strong political motive,” Tatarsky continued. “It is not about building laws; this is a matter of policy, [aiming] to change Silwan from a Palestinian neighborhood into a Jewish settlement. Officially, the plan is [being driven by] the Jerusalem Municipality, but it is coming very much from the government, and the orders were originally issued around 20 years ago.”
Until now, he explained, the campaign to protect these homes has succeeded “mainly because they were able to raise awareness and put a lot of pressure on Israel through the international community.” But after October 7, “the international community either doesn’t care or it is focusing on Gaza. The bottom line is that the international community is not stopping the Israeli government.”
According to Fakhri Abu Diab, a local activist, more than 50 homes in Al-Bustan — around half of the community — have been demolished since October 7, 2023. The Israeli authorities “became more violent,” he explained. “They come in the middle of the night and serve you [a demolition order].”
Fakhri Abu Diab, beside the rubble of his house that the Jerusalem Municipality demolished in 2024, Al-Bustan, Silwan, occupied East Jerusalem. (Faiz Abu Rmeleh)
His own home was demolished by the municipality in February 2024, forcing him to pay “huge amounts of money. I am still paying in installments.”
Abu Diab opposes self-demolitions, which he says result in “double the suffering” for Palestinians. “It is a sort of psychological war against the families. We become the tool by which the municipality executes its plans. They don’t want the world to see them destroying our homes. By doing it ourselves, we are helping them.”
But Abu Diab also acknowledged the fear that families experience without knowing when Israeli demolition crews will arrive at their home, and the difficulty of being forced to pay the exorbitant fines. “People are trying to minimize the harm.”
In response to +972’s inquiry, the Jerusalem Municipality stated that the planned biblical theme park “is being constructed for the benefit of all city residents” and that Al-Bustan’s houses were built illegally. “This area was never zoned for residential use, and the Jerusalem Municipality is now working to build a park in an area that suffers from a severe shortage of open public spaces.”
The municipality also claims that it tried “for years to find a solution for the residents that would also include a residential alternative, but they did not express any serious interest in reaching a resolution.”
Today, after two decades of legal battles, Al-Bustan is full of rubble — the last remnants of dozens of family homes. In one destroyed apartment, a fridge still stands on the collapsed floor. Beneath it, someone has written on the wall: “We are staying here. We will not leave.”