JERUSALEM, Wednesday, January 19, 2022 (WAFA) – After a two-day standoff, staff from the Israeli municipality of West Jerusalem backed by a large police force broke early this morning into the house of Mahmoud Salhia, in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, beat and detained the entire family members and several other supporters before demolishing two houses for the family, displacing 13 people, most of them children, according to witnesses.

They said the police cordoned off the entire Sheikh Jarrah area starting at 3:00 o’clock local time, preventing anyone from reaching it. Then broke into the Salhia houses, beating everyone in their way and forcing them to leave the houses on a rainy and cold morning before municipality bulldozers levelled the two houses.

The all-Israeli municipality has been trying to evict the Palestinian families from their homes claiming it wants to use the land for public service, such as building a school. The families accused the municipality of seeking to use the land to expand a nearby Jewish settlement at their expense.

On Monday, an attempt by the municipality and police to remove the families have failed after the homeowners vowed to blow themselves up and destroy the houses, where they lived for decades, if the police evict them.

The municipality ended up demolishing a family business and a parking lot but not the houses until it came back this morning while the family was asleep, broke into the houses, removed the people inside by force and demolished them.

M.K.