The Oldest Trick in the Book
In what is becoming a grim ritual in East Jerusalem, two Palestinian families have been ordered to tear down their own homes, or face exorbitant fines and demolition costs from the Israeli municipal authorities, ostensibly for lacking building permits. This demand comes despite human rights organizations consistently explaining that such permits are practically impossible for Palestinians to
obtain in areas targeted for Israeli expansion. This isn't a new phenomenon. In 1948, over 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes during the Nakba, with more than 500 villages destroyed, to clear the way for a new state. The pattern repeated in 1967, and continues with policies designed to systematically reduce the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem. As B'Tselem reported in 2021,
Israel demolished 295 Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem between 2004 and 2020 on the pretense of 'illegal construction,' displacing 1060 people, including 574 minors. Meanwhile, entire Israeli settlements are approved and expanded on stolen land without a single permit issue. One might wonder why Western governments, so quick to condemn 'authoritarian regimes' or lament 'human rights abuses'
elsewhere, remain conspicuously silent when it comes to this ongoing, documented systematic displacement. The sheer absurdity of forcing families to destroy their own dwellings, ostensibly for administrative violations, while denying them the very means to build legally, reveals a clear double standard. It is not about urban planning; it is about demographic engineering, plain and simple. This