[antiwar-van] FW: ICAHD VOLUNTEERS DRAGGED FROM HOUSE

[hanna]

-----Original Message-----
From: ICAHD [mailto:lucia at icahd.org]
Sent: December 1, 2004 6:52 AM
To: international
Subject: ICAHD VOLUNTEERS DRAGGED FROM HOUSE


ICAHD VOLUNTEERS DRAGGED FROM HOUSE;
DEMOLITION PROCEEDED

BEIT HANINA, JERUSALEM-Israeli and international volunteers occupied the
one-room house of Muhammed Shabani in order to prevent its demolition by the
municipality of Jerusalem accompanied by over forty Israeli police. The
volunteers were asked to leave, but several ICAHD staff members and
volunteers refused and were dragged out of the house by force. A Caterpillar
construction crane then demolished the house in three minutes.

Muhammed Shabani, his wife, his eight children and his grandmother lived in
this house for a year and half before demolition. The last order was
delivered on November 24, 2004, citing a lack of permit because the family's
land is zoned “open green space” by the city master plan. The family spent
an estimated $15,000 in court fees until the High Court issued a ruling
supporting the demolition.

The volunteers were members of the Israeli Committee Against House
Demolitions, B'Tselem, the International Solidarity Movement as well as
other Israelis and internationals.

After the demolition, Ari King, a representative of the National Unity
political party, arrived to verify the house was demolished. The National
Unity party states in their platform that Arabs should be expelled and
transferred in favor of Jewish settlements. The party seeks to expand the
settlement of Pizgat Ze'ev, just 200 meters over the hill from the Shabani
family, and actively pressures the Jerusalem Municipality to demolish houses
in areas of interest.

For more information, visit www.icahd.org <http://www.icahd.org> or call the
Jerusalem office at 972-(0)2-624-5560.

Timeline -Shabani Family
December 1, 2004
Beit Hanina, Jersualem

7:00 am	ICAHD staff and volunteers arrive at the Shabani house.

7:20 am	A construction crane is sighted demolishing the top four stories of
a six-story house in Beit Hanina.

8:00 am	Media reporters arrive.

8:30 am	A police jeep arrives at the Shabani house, presumably to deliver
the demolition order. The police ask who the volunteers are and depart.

8:56 am	A half-dozen police jeeps and a jackhammer-equipped Caterpillar
construction crane surround the Shabani house. The ICAHD volunteers wait
inside the house while others climb onto the roof.

9:12 am	The commanding officer enters the house with soldiers to deliver the
official demolition order to Muhammed Shabani. Everyone is given 10 minutes
to leave. The Shabani family leaves the house.

9:27 am	Soldiers order the volunteers to exit the house.

9:53 am	Several dozen soldiers enter the house and climb the roof to
physically remove the volunteers. They carry the volunteers 50 meters from
the house and leave them under guard.

10:06 am	Foreign laborers employed by the demolition subcontractor remove
the family's possessions from the house.

10:15 am	The Caterpillar crane begins destroying the four pillars of the
house.

10:18 am	The walls crumble and the roof collapsed. The Caterpillar
pulverizes the remaining pieces to make it unsalvageable.

10:35 am	Ari King, a representative of the National Unity political party
serving settler interests in expelling the Palestinian population from this
hill, arrives to verify the house has been demolished.

11:24 am	ICAHD volunteers depart the family after collecting money in order
to help the family rent an apartment during their first night without a
house.


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