Israeli Authorities Demolish Home in Arab Town in the Galilee

State authorities demolished an illegally built home in Kafr Kanna after midnight between Sunday and Monday, April 13, marking the first time in years that a demolition order for a structure in an Arab town in the Galilee has been carried out. Palestinian-Arab communities in the north of Israel fear the demolition could mark the beginning of a new wave of such actions by the state.

With support from the local Popular Committee, Kafr Kanna residents start rebuilding the demolished home in their town.

With support from the local Popular Committee, Kafr Kanna residents start rebuilding the demolished home in their town. (Photo: Al Ittihad).

The demolished home belonged to Tarek Khatib, and was located inside his family’s olive grove, said the owner. Shortly after midnight on Sunday, hundreds of police arrived unannounced and surrounded the house. They blocked all roads leading to the structure, removed the family and some of their belongings, and then razed it to the ground, said Khatib. Hundreds of local residents came to the site that night, but police used tear gas to keep them away. After removing the debris, the residents started rebuilding the house with the support of the local Popular Committee. According to Al-Ittihad, the government’s refusal to include this zone in Kafr Kanna’s master plan left residents with no choice but to build their homes illegally.

“I need a roof over the heads of my five children and I had nowhere to build,” said Khatib. “For two years I’ve been in a battle to prevent the demolition and to start the process of getting a permit, but the government insisted on demolishing our home.” The local council has filed plans to extend the boundaries of Kafr Kanna (population 21,000) and has repeatedly asked the Interior Ministry and the regional planning committee to approve the town’s expansion, which would have permitted construction on the Khatib family’s land. The last time the boundaries of the town were extended was in 1999. But the head of the local council claims that these latest requests have run into bureaucratic foot-dragging and rejection on the part of the Interior Ministry and other governmental authorities, who, he said, “need to decide whether or not we are citizens of this country.”

The dearth of housing in the Arab community has been steadily worsening. In its edition from the day before Land Day (March 30) two weeks ago, Haaretz reported that some 100,000 housing units will have to be built in Israeli Arab communities over the next decade to meet the demand. Arabs own only some 5 percent of Israel’s land, and freeing up state land for housing construction requires a bureaucratic process that can take up to a decade. In the interim, the results on the ground are a massive wave of construction without permits and thousands of demolition orders.