WALLAJA - THE NUMBER OF HOUSES THREATENED BY DEMOLITION

25 September, 2006

BY DR. MEIR MARGALIT,
Field Co-Ordinator, The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

An official Ministry of Interior (“MOI”) document we have obtained states that the number of homes in Wallaja under threat of demolition is much larger than we had previously believed. The Ministry of Interior is in charge of demolishing homes in the Jerusalem part of the village: on the Jerusalem side, there are ninety homes in total, as opposed to the 30 of which we had been aware. Of that 30, ICAHD is defending 24 in court and had thought an additional small number of houses, perhaps six or seven, were being defended by private lawyers.

The MOI document shows that at the beginning of July, 2006, there were 42 outstanding demolition orders on the Jerusalem side of Wallaja and another 16 in the process of having orders issued. Together this puts 58 houses, or 70% of the Jerusalem side of the village in danger of demolition. This is clear proof that the government is making a serious effort to remove this village from the map. Our theory is that this is part of the effort to construct the new settlement, Givat Yael. The settlement programme has encountered many problems due to disputes over land ownership; the government intends to demolish the homes, remove the residents, declare them “absentees” and thereby confiscate the land.

A pending demolition order is one which the courts have frozen for periods ranging from a few months to a few years. This “freezing” may be renewed many times depending on the quality of the lawyer representing the family, but is not an indefinite process as the lawyer will eventually run out of “tricks” and the demolition order will come into force. We know of 13 demolition orders that have been frozen for three years, and six or seven more that have been frozen for one year; as to the other houses we do not currently have information: we are under the impression that even the owners do not know the legal status of their homes.

There is a misinterpretation by which people believe that if home-owners pay fines for illegal building, their homes will become “legal” -- which is incorrect. Demolition orders in process of being issued exist on files dealt with by the MOI’s legal department; the delay may be, e.g., because certain facts, such as the date a home was originally inhabited, are still outstanding. The fact that there are so many homes in this process in Wallaja seems peculiar. It suggests that the attention which the international community, diplomats and the media have given to this village has caused the MOI to hesitate in presenting these pending orders to the court, as it does not want to be subject to political pressure then arising.

We publish this information because even though the entire village will be surrounded by the Wall, the MOI nevertheless intends to demolish the homes. It hopes that public interest will eventually lapse on the issue, and then it will be more at liberty to demolish. Thirteen homes have been demolished in Wallaja in recent years, so we cannot afford for these further demolitions to be carried out.