The occupation forced the Nassar family to self-demolish their three homes

A tent in the face of winter... 18 Jerusalemites living in the open

  • The Nassar family's tent was erected next to the rubble of their destroyed homes.

    Emirates today

  • The rubble of the Nassar family's homes.

    Emirates today

  • Nassar's family consists of 18 members, including 11 children.

    Emirates today

  • Monther, Jawad Nassar and their mother inside the homelessness tent.

    Emirates today

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While the Palestinian territories were facing a cold air depression, the young Jerusalemite Muhammad Nassar was trying to expand the tent he had built using dilapidated fabrics and tin boards, next to the rubble of his family’s three houses, which he had demolished forcibly with both hands. in the open.

Muhammad moves among the ruins of his house and the homes of his father, Munther and his uncle Jawad, in the Wadi Qaddoum neighborhood in the town of Silwan, south of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, searching for what he wants. It helps them in the face of the harsh winter cold and torrential rain, so that the Jerusalem family will live a difficult chapter of the catastrophe of displacement and displacement.

This state of homelessness will accompany the three Nassar families for a long time, as the Occupation Court in the Holy City of Jerusalem gave them until December 14th to end the self-demolition of their homes, promising that if the demolition decision is not implemented, the mechanisms of the occupation municipality will implement it, in return for imposing tens of thousands Shekels cost of home demolitions.

On the 11th of this December, the Nassar families demolished their homes with their own hands under pressure, in order to avoid paying huge sums to the occupation municipality staff of 200,000 shekels, and this is what actually happened, as the Nassar families were forced to empty the contents of their homes in a hurry, to be transformed within a few hours to scattered piles of rubble, while members of Nassar's families were in the immediate vicinity of the open.

Homeless people near their homes

The young man, Muhammad Munther Nassar, and his two young daughters and his pregnant wife face the winter cold, by staying inside a small tent set up in the open, next to what remains of the walls of their destroyed homes.

In the same tent lives his parents' family of eight, and beside them also the family of his uncle Jawad Nassar (six members) faces displacement among the sides of dilapidated tin and worn-out fabrics.

The young man, Muhammad Nassar, told "Emirates Today", while he was searching for firewood in the vicinity of their destroyed homes, to light a fire inside the tent, in order to warm his family's children, "God suffices us, and He is the best agent. If our homes were demolished, we did not face a single moment of stability, as our thoughts became how to secure a shelter for our children and their mothers, in light of the frost wave and rain, where we did not find a refuge but to set up a tent in the open, adjoining the rubble of our three homes.”

He added, wondering, "What is the fault of our children, to face such a bleak fate? Our families consist of (18) individuals, including (11) children. Winter cold, summer heat.

He points out that his small house was built in 2014, on an area not exceeding (60 meters), but at the same time it was a haven for his two daughters, and his wife, who is in the sixth month, and the area of ​​his father's house is (70) meters, which is the same size as the house of his uncle Jawad.

He added, "We will face homelessness for an unknown time. We do not have the rent for a single apartment, which is more than 3,000 shekels per month. We spent all our money on building our three houses, which have become an antiquity."

Nassar added, "We will not leave the Holy City of Jerusalem, and we will remain next to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, even if they demolish the tent that we are currently erecting from the remains of the contents of our destroyed homes."

insistence on demolishing

Inside the Nassar family tent, Al-Maqdisi Munther leans on the remains of the walls of his destroyed house, while watching the features of his grandchildren and nephews, who did not stop asking about their fate after the demolition of their homes, and living inside the small tent, and at the same time, confusion settles in himself, as he is unable to have an answer to innocent questions.

Munther Nassar says in a sad voice, “Dozens of years ago, I bought a plot of land in the Wadi Qaddoum neighborhood in Silwan, and in 2014 I built two houses for myself and my eldest son Muhammad, but after six months of construction, I received the first notification of the demolition of our homes, under the pretext of building without a permit, and implementing Scheme".

Since then, Nassar has not left the corridors of the Israeli courts, in an attempt to stop the decision to demolish his family's homes, but in 2017, the occupation municipality imposed on him the payment of a construction fine worth 52,000 shekels, and he will continue to do so until 2025.

Al-Maqdisi continues his speech, saying, “While we are paying the fine for unlicensed construction, as the occupation municipality claims, I was waging a legal battle inside the corridors of the occupation courts. The demolition orders, to force us to do it ourselves, with bulldozers that we bring, and we bear the costs for their owners.”

He added, "In a few moments, the years of life were lost, and among the rubble of our homes, the dreams of our children were shattered, and the memories of our days we spent were buried under one roof, and we no longer have even the price to buy one tent, to house the children and women of our families."

He says: "We had to set up a tent out of the wreckage of our homes and the remnants of their contents, especially since international institutions and human rights associations did not provide us with even one tent, to help the hearts of children, who were afflicted with fear, as a result of depriving them of their only shelter, to face their slender bodies displacement, and their innocent laughter kills on middle of the road".

• The young man, Muhammad Munther Nassar, and his two young daughters and his pregnant wife face the cold of winter by staying inside a small tent set up in the open next to what remains of the walls of their destroyed homes.

• Munther Nassar: Within a few moments, the years of life were lost, and among the rubble of our homes, the dreams of our children were shattered, and our memories that we lived under one roof were buried and we no longer have the price of a tent.

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