OCTOBER 27 HOME DEMOLITIONS IN EAST JERUSALEM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 001956 SIPDIS NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE AND IPA; NSC FOR SHAPIRO/KUMAR E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/28/2019 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREF KPAL IS SUBJECT: OCTOBER 27 HOME DEMOLITIONS IN EAST JERUSALEM REF: A. JERUSALEM 1344 ¶B. JERUSALEM 1838 ¶C. JERUSALEM 1217 ¶D. JERUSALEM 965 Classified By: CG Daniel Rubinstein, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (SBU) Summary. The Jerusalem Municipality executed demolition orders on October 27 for five buildings (a total of nine housing units) in East Jerusalem, displacing or partially destroying the homes of 45 Palestinian residents. The Municipality also dismantled a tent in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, where the al-Ghawi family had resided since its August 2009 eviction by court order. Municipality officials denied knowledge of the timing, as well as press reports that up to 59 demolitions would take place before the end of 2009. Other contacts believe more demolitions are planned, and claim the Municipality (which hires contractors to conduct demolitions) must actively agree for any demolition to go forward. End Summary. Run-Down of October 27 Demolitions -------------- ¶2. (U) On October 27, Jerusalem Municipality orders were executed (see para 10 for a description of the procedure) for the demolition of five buildings in East Jerusalem. The demolitions, which destroyed nine housing units, resulted in the displacement of 26 Palestinians, including ten children; 19 Palestinians, including eight children, were affected by the partial demolition of their homes. ¶3. (C) The first demolition took place at 6:00 a.m. local time in Jabal Mukabir. The property, a two-story, four-unit building on the outskirts of the neighborhood, belonged to Nimr Ali Hassan Nimr, who told PolOff following the demolition that he built the property ten years ago and had been fighting a demolition order since its construction. He claimed that the police did not allow him to empty the home of belongings prior to its demolition, and that a computer and three refrigerators were destroyed in the process. According to Nimr, a Municipality representative present said his home had been selected for demolition because the property was too close -- some 300 yards -- to the security barrier. ¶4. (SBU) The second demolition occurred on the outskirts of the Shu'fat Refugee Camp. UN OCHA told PolOff that the building -- home to nine registered Palestinian refugees, including four children -- had been partially self-demolished in 2006 and rebuilt by the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD) in 2008. (Note: "self-demolitions" are sometimes undertaken by property owners in order to avoid being charged by the Municipality for the cost of an official demolition.) ¶5. (SBU) According to UN OCHA, the owner of the property said he had been approached several times by a person named Aria King, who claimed ownership of the land, and that court decisions in 2006 ruled in King's favor. The property, while within the Municipality's declared boundaries, is located to the east of the security barrier; bulldozers and police entered through a gate built into the barrier. UN OCHA said that the family was not allowed to remove personal belongings from the house before the demolition. ¶6. (SBU) The third property, in Jabal Mukabir, was home to a 75-year-old Palestinian woman and her adult son. Their previous home had stood in the same location prior to its demolition by the Municipality in 2006. Following the first demolition, the family sought shelter with relatives before erecting and moving into the new structure. UN OCHA said that the demolition process in this case seemed to have been expedited: the first demolition order was received in May 2009, the second in September 2009, and the demolition executed on October 27. ¶7. (C) The fourth demolition destroyed an extension to a home in Jabal Mukabir where -- according to UN OCHA -- five Palestinians, including three adult children, lived; the family said they would remain in the undemolished portion of the house. The fifth demolition, which also occurred in Jabal Mukabir, demolished the remnants of a property partially self-demolished in September 2009. Fourteen people lived in this property, including eight children. The family owns another building nearby where it is currently living in crowded conditions. ¶8. (C) The following day, on October 28, the Jerusalem Municipality and INP dismantled a tent set up in August 2009 JERUSALEM 00001956 002 OF 002 by the al-Ghawi family on a sidewalk across from the home they had occupied before their August 2 eviction. (In a controversial legal proceeding, Israeli courts granted ownership of the property to the Nakhalat Shimon International and the Sephardic Community Committee, based on Ottoman-era land deeds). Four members of the al-Ghawi family were reportedly in the tent at the time of its dismantling, and the Municipality confiscated the tent's contents, including bedding, kitchenware, and a television. Post contacts say that Rabbi Yechiel Grenimann, field coordinator for the NGO Rabbis for Human Rights, was detained the evening of 27 October for allegedly intervening on the family's behalf. Municipality's View -------------- ¶9. (C) Stephan Miller, aide to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat (currently visiting the United States),provided PolOff with municipal documents prepared for four of the building demolitions, explaining that one of the properties was an illegal billiards hall, and another was built on public land. He said that a third property was first issued a demolition order in 2003, "long before Mayor Barkat ran for mayor the first time." He noted that since mid-October 2009, the Municipality had demolished four properties in West Jerusalem, including one property in an ultra-orthodox Charedi community. (Comment: The demolition reports that Miller provided to Post indicate that the West Jerusalem structures demolished -- three add-on rooms and an enclosed patio -- were comparatively small.) ¶10. (C) Miller said that press reports claiming that the Municipality intended to proceed with demolition of 59 properties, including 42 properties in East Jerusalem, were "completely untrue." "The timing of demolitions is decided by the police and the courts," he claimed, "not the Municipality. There just aren't 40 demolitions in East Jerusalem in the pipeline." Lawyer and activist Danny Seidemann disputed this claim in a separate conversation, noting that both the Municipality (which hires contractors to conduct the demolition after the building inspection department issues its concurs) and the police (which secures the site) must concur before a demolition can occur. Finally, Jerusalem City Council member and ICAHD founder Meir Margalit said he anticipated approximately 40 additional demolitions in East Jerusalem before the end of 2009. ¶11. (C) Seidemann argued that the Municipality gave little if any consideration to the potentially provocative nature of home demolitions at a time of heightened tensions in Jerusalem. "(Jerusalem Mayor) Nir Barkat thinks of this as a rule of law issue," Seidemann argued. "He sees himself as Rudy Giuliani taking on the muggers. He's immune to subtlety. On the fourth floor of city hall (where municipal planning takes place),everyone is feeling the pressure from the new American administration. But not Barkat. He's incapable of doubting." RUBINSTEIN