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Recently, the home of Mahmoud Salhiya was demolished in Sheikh Jarrah by the Israeli forces. His house was located on the east part of the road which travels from north to south through Jerusalem and separates Israeli and Palestinian sectors.

The demolition could be seen as a way to control the Palestinian and Israeli activists. The demolition happened in a very dramatic way as the authorities arrived at the site at the early hours of the day, on one the coldest night of the year. The Israeli police forcibly removed the 15 members of the Salhiya’s house and the house was bulldozed thereafter. Later, they arrested Mahmoud Salhiya and five members of his family, as well as some of their supporters, both Palestinian and Israeli activists.

There is an ongoing attempt to displace the Palestinians from their homes.

Recently, this has been done not just in Sheikh Jarrah but also in other places such as Silwan. Also, the outskirts of the Old City of Silwan have become a place for continuing conflict between Jewish settlers and the local Palestinian community over archaeology, tourism development and housing.

There are many recent instances of house demolition.  According to sources from the Israeli information centre for human rights in the occupied territories, the cases of demolition have increased drastically. Israeli authorities demolished at least 1,176 Palestinian housing units in East Jerusalem. between 2006 and November 2021. A total of 3,769 people lost their homes - including 1,996 children.

The family house of Mahmoud Salhiya was built on the Sheikh Jarrah’s southern area of land. This piece of land was designated by the old urban scheme authorised in the 1980s for the construction of a public building. His house already existed with few more similar structures around, when this plan was made. If we go by the maps of Jerusalem of 1930’s, this house and other buildings on the plot are already visible.

The neighbourhood of his house has two distinctive sections, the wealthier Palestinians are on the north side, whereas hundreds of poor Palestinians are on the southern side. An important point to be noted is that according to the Jerusalem Municipality itself, residential construction done before 1967 in the eastern Jerusalem shall be deemed legal, therefore cannot be demolished.

The government authorities of Israel have argued in favour of their action saying that the Salhiya property is demolished in order to build a "special needs" school for the benefit of the neighbourhood's residents. Where-as this proposal was never discussed with their family or the community.

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