Details - The evacuation of the Salhiya family, the demolition and destruction of the two houses and the land
The occupation forces evacuated, at dawn Wednesday, the Salhiya family from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in the city of Jerusalem, and the bulldozer demolished all their contents.
The occupation forces, with their different teams, stormed the house of the Salhiya family at about three in the morning, amid throwing sound bombs and besieging the house completely. The forces evacuated members of the Salhiya family and those in solidarity with them from the two houses, severely beat them, and detained each of them in an area in order not to communicate with each other, while they took the owner’s wife and child out of the area.
After the arrest of those inside, the bulldozer demolished the two houses, swept the floors completely, and the family was unable to remove the contents of the two houses, and even personal belongings were prevented from being taken, and furniture, food, pictures and bags were scattered over the rubble of the house.
The family's lawyer, Walid Abu Tayeh, explained that the forces arrested 20 people from the Salhiya family's home, including Mahmoud Salhiya, the owner of the house, and transferred them to the Salah al-Din Street police station in Jerusalem.
Immediately after the demolition process was completed and the press crews tried to enter and reach the demolished site, the forces prevented them and assaulted them with pushing, and forcibly evicted those present. They also attacked the activist Mohammad Abu al-Hummos with pushingto force him to leave the land.
The bulldozers returned and swept the land and the rubble of the two houses, and the trucks transported the dust loaded with furniture and the contents of the two houses to the landfill in Atarot, without allowing the family to take their belongings.
Last Monday, Salhiya and his family members threatened to blow up the two houses and themselves if the forces approach the two houses during the storming of the property. That day, the evacuation failed, while the municipal mechanisms demolished the commercial facilities on the land and destroyed all roads.
The Salhiya family announced an open sit-in in their home to reject the eviction and confiscation decision, while the family’s lawyer, Ahmed Al-Qadmani, confirmed that he submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court on Monday to consider the decision to freeze the decision, but the demolition and eviction took place on Wednesday, and a session was scheduled for next week on the eviction decision.
For more than 23 years, the Salhiya family fought a battle in the courts to protect 6 dunoms of "residential facilities and land" from the municipality and prevent their confiscation under the pretext of “public benefit.
