Israeli occupation authorities issued immediate demolition orders on Sunday targeting 14 Palestinian homes in the Al‑Bustan neighborhood of Silwan, south of Al‑Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, under the pretext of “building without a permit.”
The move marks a new escalation in a long‑running, systematic policy aimed at erasing Palestinian presence in one of the most sensitive and strategically significant areas surrounding the mosque.
The Jerusalem Governorate said in a statement that the threatened homes shelter Palestinian families, and that the latest orders form part of an Israeli plan to transform the lands of Al‑Bustan into what the occupation calls “Torah gardens”—a direct violation of property and housing rights that places the fate of nearly 120 Palestinian residents at risk.
The statement noted that families have spent tens of thousands of dollars over the years on fines imposed by the Israeli municipality, despite living in homes that have stood for decades.
According to the Governorate, the new demolition notices are part of a broader wave of escalating measures targeting Al‑Bustan.
In January alone, the Israeli municipality informed residents of its intention to confiscate large tracts of land: approximately 5.7 dunams on January 1, and an additional dunam and 100 square meters on January 18, under the guise of “landscaping and parking projects.”
The occupation authorities claimed the areas were “empty,” although they include plots where Palestinian homes were demolished last year—an embodiment of the so‑called “empty land” policy used as a fabricated legal tool to justify confiscation and entrench permanent colonial control.
The Governorate stressed that the assault on Al‑Bustan is part of a wider Israeli plan built on two parallel tracks: altering the demographic reality in favor of illegal paramilitary Israeli colonizers and tightening geographic control over the surroundings of Al‑Aqsa Mosque.
It emphasized that Silwan forms the southern defensive belt of Al‑Aqsa and the historic guardian of its walls, and that targeting it constitutes a direct attack on the city’s established historical and legal status.
Around 1,500 Palestinians live in Al‑Bustan in roughly 120 homes, facing a coordinated and multi‑layered campaign of pressure.
Nearly 80% of the neighborhood’s homes are classified as “under threat of demolition,” many subject to immediate demolition orders under the so‑called “Kaminitz Law,” including renewed fines for homes whose owners had already paid penalties prior to 2017.
The neighborhood has also witnessed unprecedented escalation since October 7, 2023, including the banning of prayers at the community protest tent—later demolished by Israeli forces—restrictions on media coverage and local associations, and the demolition of more than 35 homes since that date.
Residents also face daily pressure tactics: road closures, military roadblocks, arbitrary arrests, exorbitant municipal taxes, and a quasi‑official role for colonizers who harass residents through filming, filing demolition claims, and maintaining a constant atmosphere of intimidation.
Palestinian National Council President Rawhi Fattouh stated that the Israeli decision to issue immediate demolition orders for 14 homes in Al‑Bustan amounts to a political and legal crime, a form of racist ethnic cleansing, and a flagrant breach of international humanitarian law.
In a press statement on Sunday evening, Fattouh said the claim of “building without a permit” is merely a manufactured legal pretext to justify forced displacement and cement permanent colonial structures.
He noted that this approach is part of a wider colonial project designed to uproot Jerusalem’s Indigenous Palestinian population, fragment Palestinian neighborhoods, and forcibly reshape the city’s demographic and geographic character.
Fattouh stressed that Silwan constitutes the southern protective depth of Al‑Aqsa, and that targeting it represents a direct attack on Jerusalem as an occupied city subject to international law.
He cautioned that ongoing international silence only encourages the occupation to escalate its demolition policies and spatial cleansing practices.
The official urged the international community to meet its legal and moral obligations, abandon double standards, and provide immediate international protection for the Palestinian people and their holy sites, affirming that these crimes cannot confer any legitimacy on the occupation.
In a related development, Israeli occupation forces on Sunday forced brothers Kamal and Karam Mohammad Abu Swai to empty their homes in the Wadi Qaddum area of Silwan in preparation for their forced demolition.
The two homes shelter 15 members of the Abu Swai family, who now face imminent displacement amid Israel’s ongoing policy of imposing severe restrictions on Palestinian building permits in occupied Jerusalem.
Also, two Palestinian families were forced to carry out the self‑demolition of their homes in Jabal al‑Mukabber, southeast of occupied Jerusalem, and in Silwan.
