Testimony 2 “I was born in al-Bustan neighborhood and stayed here when I got married. When my husband and I started building our own home the Israelis came and demolished it. They filed a [law] suit against us because we built without a permit, because the whole of al-Bustan neighborhood is declared as a green and protected area. We have a unique situation in al-Bustan because our case isn’t about one individual or one family. My father’s home, my uncle’s homes, and all the people I know are targeted by Israel. Actually, everyone in the neighborhood has received demolition orders which started in 2005.204 All of these plans [for the national park] are just an indirect way to force us to move out of here. When they started giving demolition orders, they also started arresting a lot of people, including children and youth. This always happens at night. So, the issue isn’t only demolition orders and taking our land and property, it is the pressure they’re putting on the people who are living here. Kids stopped going to school, most of the youth in the neighborhood are not educated and are unemployed. We know that we don’t have [building] permits but there are buildings that were given to Jewish-Israelis in the same area and they also have no building permits. Why is it us who have demolition orders and not them? Why are they only targeting Palestinians? If you have a demolition order or law suit against your home, you are forced to pay a monthly fine to the municipality. It’s as if you are renting your own home because you end up paying the municipality at least 2,500 Shekels [688 USD, per month]. This money is considered a fine and usually it’s for building without a permit. But to be honest with you, there are no houses built with permits, not even the old ones. The reactions to demolition orders vary. Some people consider moving from the neighborhood. People are buying houses in other places so that when the demolition happens in al-Bustan they have another place to live. Other people have already left al-Bustan. This is a rational reaction under the circumstances, but the only people who leave are the ones who are financially able to. The majority of the people living here have no financial resources so the only option for those people is to stay here. Personally, I’ve never thought about what I will do when my home gets 204 As noted above, in 2004 the Jerusalem City Engineer initiated demolition orders for homes in al-Bustan neighborhood. 70