What's it like to have your house torn down 2 times and to rebuild it after each time it's been torn down? How would you feel? What would you do?

Well, we met the mother, Mundir, and one of the three sons, Muhammed, of a family that had that happen to them. The Salem family live in the town of Al Walajah. Al Walajah is South of Jerusalem, and is being broken in half by the wall that is being planned. Part of the village is in "Greater" Jerusalem, the new line for Jerusalem put in to extend its boundaries. There are about 50 house demolition orders for houses in the town. No demolitions have taken place since 2006. But . . .

The Salem family own the property their house is on. As you walk into their property, you see on the other side of a very big valley, a Settlement. This settlement is Gilo and in "Greater" Jerusalem.

They built their first house in 2003. Shortly thereafter, they received notification that their house was to be demolished, and if they didn't demolish it, they would have to pay about 70,000 shekels (just under $20,000) . (Note, the demolition order is for the owners to demolition their own home. The fine is for NOT demolitioning their home.) The father went back and forth to court for 3 years. They didn't have the money to pay the fine for not demolishing it. After 5 months, he was put in jail for a month, and still didn't have the money to pay the fine. Some people feel if they pay the fine, the demolition will not take place, but that is not true. The demolition can still take place, but the Israeli Army does it.

One day, in January of 2006, soldiers showed up at their door with a bulldozer and told them to take their personal stuff out of the house. After taking their personal stuff out, the soldiers then moved (or maybe the right word is THREW) their furniture and remaining articles out of the house (some thru the windows) and bulldozed the house down.

For the next 6 months, they lived in a tent on their land. Friends and family were there for them, and helped them rebuild the house. The courts sent them another demolition order, which again they did not do. So in December of 2006, (the same year) the army showed up again, and once again, demolished the house they had rebuilt on their land. The family thinks it may have been some of the same soldiers.

Fortunately, their family and friends were still there for them, and again rebuilt the house one more time in 2007. It's smaller than the original house, but its big enough to live there. If you look behind the house, you see the pile of rubble left from the other houses. The family just moved the rubble over to the side, and began building again.

When asked, "how do you feel?" Their answer was "Don't get too involved with thinking about the situation. Just try to keep on living."

WHAT PERSISTANCE!

They do have another demolition order on this house. The family prays that it won't be demolished. Though the boys are growing up and moving on with their lives, Mr and Mrs Salem continue living there. Mrs Salem's comment was "This is our home, and we do not want to leave, so we will stay, even if it means living in tents."

I pray they won't have to live in tents again.

I am an Ecumemical Accompanier (EA) for the World Council of Churches' (WCC) Ecumenical Advocacy Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The views herein are personal and do not necessarily reflect the views of the WCC. If you would like to disseminate the information on this blog, please contact the EAPPI Communications Coordinator at eappi-co@jrol.com. You can also contact the US EAPPI office thru the website www.eappi-us.org. Peace