Israeli demolition orders target Lod and Haifa

Israeli forces demolished three buildings belonging to a Palestinian family in the city of Lod in northern Israel early today, while demolition orders were delivered to Palestinian homes in the Haifa district.

Sources told Ma’an that Israeli forces and border guards facilitated the demolition of the three buildings which belonged to the Shaaban family in the northern Lod neighbourhood of Karm Al-Tuffah without prior notice.

Witnesses said that Israeli police evacuated the women and children and demolished the buildings as they watched.

The buildings were constructed in 1998.

Israeli forces also delivered demolition orders to Palestinians in the town of Isfiya in the Haifa district, according to locals.

One of the residents who received a demolition order, Sheikh Saadeh Zaher told Ma’an that the police demanded he demolish his own home in order to avoid additional fines for security which would be hired to escort the demolition team if Israeli forces were to carry out the demolition.

Locals from the town gathered at Zaher’s home and pledged to prevent the demolitions from being carried out by organising a sit-in tomorrow to protest against the order.

The demolitions came just two days after Israeli forces demolished another building in northern Israel. At the time, Abdullah Abu Maarouf, a Knesset member from the Joint List, called the demolition a “savage crime”, adding that “our main national aim is to prevent the demolition of any Arab home in the country, especially Arabs who built their houses on lands they inherited from their ancestors,” employing the term often used in Israel to refer to Palestinians with Israeli citizenship.

Palestinian communities in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem have long been targeted by discriminatory Israeli policies, whether through “divide and conquer” tactics, attempts at forcibly displacing Bedouin communities, and what has been denounced as a policy of “Judaisation” of Jerusalem and Israel at the expense of other religious communities.