WEST BANK: Israeli Military Demolishes Shawamreh House for the Second Time
Following Jewish Holiday of Tisha B'av

by Mark Frey

The Israeli military demolished the Shawamreh house for the second time in
less than a month after a three-day rebuilding effort by over 70 Israelis,
Palestinians and internationals to restore the demolished home of Salim &
Arabieh and their 6 children in Anata (east of Jerusalem).

Israeli soldiers quietly surrounded the building site shortly after 5 a.m.
Monday morning, first establishing a military
perimeter and then bringing in the bulldozer to raze the house. The
demolition came on the day after the Jewish holiday of Tisha B'Av which mourns
the Roman military's destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70CE.

The house was first demolished on July 9 and organizers feared the military
might destroy the house again. Maintaining an around-the-clock presence at the
site, CPTers Jim Satterwhite (Bluffton, OH), Bill Pluecker (Claremont,CA) and
Israeli activist Jeff Halper slept in a nearby house and woke up to see
soldiers standing around them. Satterwhite quickly entered the lower part of
the new house, but soldiers roughly dragged him out, and he received cuts and
bruises.

Pluecker followed Satterwhite into the house and as the soldiers detained
Pluecker, Satterwhite moved to the roof-top
where he was again pulled off by soldiers who walked both CPTers away from
the site. Israeli Jeff Halper was kept on the road where Israeli soldiers
sat on him. No one was arrested.

Satterwhite, who speaks fluent Russian, argued with two Russian-Israeli
soldiers, demanding, "Why are you destroying this house?"

Soldier: "We're not. We're guarding the bulldozer that is destroying the
house."

Second soldier: "We are doing our military duty."

Satterwhite: "This is not a combat war. This is a war against
people, against houses."

Soldier: "You're right, I have a house too."

While the first demolition was confined to the new house, this second military
demolition bulldozed not just the new construction, but included surrounding
trees and the outer wall around the property. The soldiers also took away the
two Red-Crescent tents in which the family was living.

Builders had completed one section of the house's foundation
wall and part of a concrete roof. The family had spent thousands of dollars
on the house.

Only one day before the demolition, Gush Shalom, an Israeli peace
organization stated: "If demolished, we will rebuild-- again and again, until
Israel cannot face world pressure."

Two days ago, expecting the military at any time, organizers posted scouts on
the hills to watch for an approaching Israeli army and bulldozers. At 8:00
pm, Saturday evening, the scouts started shouting: "The concrete is coming,
the concrete is coming!" When Salim saw the glow of the truck headlights
over the hill carrying concrete for his new house, he burst into tears.

During a CNN report yesterday, one Israeli official in charge of house
demolitions explained why the family is not allowed to live there: "They built
too close to the bypass road." The road is, in fact, almost 1km away.

Although international media, press and TV covered the rebuilding action
constantly, the Israeli media ignored it almost completely.

The rebuilding project was organized by the Palestinian Land Defense Committee
and the Israeli Coalition Against House Demolitions. Israeli groups
participating in the rebuilding included Rabbis for Human Rights, Bat Shalom
and Gush Shalom. CPT, LAW (Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human
Rights and the Environment) and other individuals also joined in the effort.

Gush Shalom will dedicate part of their web page to the Shawamreh home:
http://www.gush-shalom.org/demolition/salim/