Save Beit Arabiya!

Imagine you grew up. Imagine you got married and wanted to build a house. And so you worked hard and then after some years you were finally able to buy a piece of land. In order to build a house, however, of course you would need a building permit. So you applied for one, while your family waited patiently to have a place to live. But then you didn't get the permit, for kafkaesque reasons that nobody could really explain. So you applied again. And then again, and each time you got a different explanation why you would not be permitted to build a small house on your own small piece of land. The basic problem seemed to be that the land was allegedly zoned as "agricultural" according to an obscure law from 1942 - and ignoring the fact that it would be impossible to grow anything there anyway because of the bad quality of the soil.

And so three unsuccessful attempts to obtain a building permit (each with a fee of 5,000$), you were forced to build your house "illegally", although you as a human being had a fundamental right to shelter, money to build it and your own land to build it on. Now, imagine that you lived in your house with your wife and seven children for four years. Then, with no prior warning, one day you were having breakfast, your house was surrounded by soldiers and tanks and you got 10 minutes to get out of the house. You tried to object, but then the bulldozers just started to destroy your house. You could do nothing but watch it happen. Imagine the fear of your children. Imagine the helplessness. Imagine how you would feel. It's not just about a house. It's about a home. Your private life. Your safety, your very human worth.

Now imagine that you rebuilt the house again.
Then it happened all over again; soldiers, tanks, bulldozers, humiliation, fear, loss.
But you rebuilt, and people from all over the world came to help out.
It didn't last long though; this time you managed to sleep one single night in your home before it was demolished for a third time.
And after that you even had to go through a fourth demolition and a fifth rebuilding, upon which you realized that you would never be allowed to live in your house.

What would you do?

This is the true story of Salim and Arabiya Shawamreh, from the small village of Anata in the West Bank, just meters over the Jerusalem municipal boundary. After the fourth demolition they decided to dedicate their home as a peace center, a place where Palestinians, Israelis and internationals could meet in order to develop campaigns that would effectively end the Occupation, until that day when they could actually move in. It was named Beit Arabiya after the woman whose home it was.

Salim and Arabiya are not alone: Since 1967, Israel has demolished more than 12,000 Palestinian homes. Israel’s policy of house demolitions seeks to confine Palestinians to small enclaves, leaving most of the land free for Israeli settlement.

The Fourth Geneva Convention forbids an Occupying Power to extend its law and administration to an occupied territory, rendering the very process of granting or denying permits to Palestinians, not to mention Israel’s policy of house demolitions, patently illegal under international humanitarian law.

On February 7, 2007, a three judge panel of the Israeli Supreme Court heard the second appeal of Salim and Arabiya Shawamreh’s to have the 15-year demolition order on their home rescinded. They also petitioned the Court to instruct the authorities to issue them a building permit. A negative ruling is expected any day, and as soon as it is issued the Civil Administration, Israel’s military government over the Occupied Territories, can order the home demolished for the fifth time.

How much injustice can the world take?
How can the world allow these things to happen?
This is not happening in some far-away jungle outside the so-called civilized world, this is happening right in front of our eyes, in the Holy Land. Don't say we didn't know. Watch the video below, and if your heart is angered please read more on ICAHDs webpages for suggestions on what you can do.