“Even if the police threaten you to leave your house, choose to die in your home with dignity,” said Mahmoud Salhiya, as he stood outside his house in Sheikh Jarrah, clearly demonstrating his determination to resist the occupation by protecting his home from Israeli settlers that aim to demolish it.
“Today me, tomorrow my neighbor,” he says, expressing his frustration towards the never-ending ethnic cleansing of his people.
A few days later, in the early hours of January 19, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) stormed the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, creating a blockade at 3 AM. The barricade trapped dozens of Palestinians inside, as witnesses outside heard screams for help. Meanwhile, Israeli forces halted journalists and ambulances who aimed to enter.
According to a Salahiya family member, Israeli forces raided the residence, assaulting everyone inside, breaking some people's legs and arms, before detaining Mahmoud Salahiya and two of his other family members.
After emptying the house of its residents, the Salahiya household was demolished.
Muna El Kurd, a famous Palestinian activist, intended to document the recent events on her social media platform that, unfortunately, had restricted her virtual activities. The Salhiya family's home was no longer in one piece by the time she was able to gain back control over her account. Citizens and journalists hurried to the scene with their phones, keeping trace of the ruins where the 60-year-old home had stood for so long.
When Palestinian civilians sought to get closer to the house, either to capture the events or to confront the police, they were shot with rubber bullets, according to Al-Qastal, a Palestinian news outlet. A ten-year-old child managed to flee and reported, with tears, that they were attacking and arresting any individual who tried to gather aid.
In 1956, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and the Jordanian government, agreed to relocate 28 Palestinian families who had been displaced from their seized lands in 1948, to Sheikh Jarrah. Sheikh Jarrah is estimated to be 808 dunams in size, with a population of around 2,800 people. Its management and duty relaxation lie with Jerusalem's Israeli municipality.
Ultimately, tensions between Palestinians and Israelis peaked last year after the residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood collectively rejected a deal proposed by the Israeli Supreme Court on November 2, 2021. The deal entailed considering the residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood to be "protected tenants" at the settlement association of "Nahalat Shimon." Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah regarded the Israeli offer as being an ongoing confiscation scheme of their homes and lands. Consequently, Israel now aims to seize the land regardless of the opinions of its residents, destroying with it, years' worth of history and memories.