Through a Child’s Eyes

The police abruptly blocked the street, closing off the neighborhood of al-Bustan (The Garden) in Silwan on September 19, 2021. This was not new—police had been demolishing homes and blocking access to the Silwan area, just south of the Haram al-Sharif and home to 59,000 Palestinians, for weeks throughout the summer. This is the area where Israel is working to install the “City of David” biblical theme park, and it has been a focus of intensive home demolition efforts of late. In the al-Bustan neighborhood, over 125 families (around 1,500 Palestinians) live in 100 homes. [1]  According to residents, all the homes are under threat of demolition. Palestinians are left no choice but to build illegally, because the municipality does not grant them permits to build legally. [2]

The police were out in full force to ensure the day’s mission would be accomplished.

Some wore masks, which made them look even more forboding. 

The bulldozer arrived and, without any warning, swung into action on September 19, 2021. Our photographer happened to be on the scene.

The home that was slated for demolition contained two apartments belonging to two brothers, Rimah and Ali Odeh, in the al-Bustan neighborhood. The brothers had lived in the apartments for 10 years. The stated reason for the demolition was that the house did not have a permit. The extended Odeh family owns many homes in this neighborhood; most of the adjacent homes are also Odeh-owned. 

The demolition of the two-apartment building in the al-Bustan neighborhood of Silwan got underway on September 19, 2021. 

Drawn, no doubt, by the cacophonous noise, the neighbors’ children came onto the balcony to watch, riveted. Most likely they are also Odehs who are related in some degree to Rimah and Ali.

Within a matter of minutes, the demolition of Rimah and Ali Odeh’s home of 10 years was complete. For the bulldozer driver, it was “all in a day’s work.”

For the young bystanders, however, the trauma of witnessing such an event was likely lifelong.