Waiting for Bad News
Rami Khader is the Director of the East Jerusalem YMCA’s Rehabilitation Programme, which works to provide a safe space and counselling for those who have been traumatised or impacted by events related to the ongoing occupation in the West Bank. Here, Rami explores the long term effects that home demolition in the Occupied Palestinian Territories has on Palestinian families, particularly children.
When you ask people what home means to them, many will say it is both their homeland, the land of their ancestors, a cause they fight for, as well as a physical space/structure. Home is something that reflects their very humanity. This is especially true in Palestine which has been under Israeli occupation since 1948.
Having lived abroad I am aware that perceptions of home are different, on both cultural and individual levels. What is similar for all of us is that after a long and tiring day we, as humans, all need a safe place, a place that has secure boundaries, a familiar place. A place we can call home and where we can rest, bring up a family, and house our possessions. Every human needs a place that is theirs, where they can enjoy privacy, as well as feeling safe and protected. For many families in Palestine, these basic human needs become impossible after they receive a demolition order.
Before the Israeli government takes a Palestinian’s land and demolishes their home it will issue a demolition order. You may be familiar with this from the recent international news attention around Sheik Jarah, Silwan, and the like. I'm deeply aware of the negative impact such demolition orders have on the wellbeing and growth of children and their families. When the home is threatened, even before the physical demolition of the structure, there is an immediate increase in anxiety and distress felt around the prospect of losing one's only safe space. This psychological toll dehumanizes everyone in the family and is especially damaging to the social and emotional development of children. Apart from the immediate trauma of receiving the notice, children and their families find they are living with constant fear, isolation, and absence of safety.
Parents and families feel helpless as they are unable to protect their children, as their ability to provide care and safety for their children is being threatened by the demolition of their home. It can become agonizing to be in the home, many which have been in families for generations, and are places where they shared fond memories together, as they begin to imagine a future where this home is gone, and they wander the streets looking for a place to stay.
Despite the resounding resilience of the Palestinian people, especially children, decades of multi-generational occupation, dehumanization, denial of basic human rights, and lack of access to justice often result in a dramatic increase in psychological, emotional, spiritual, and physical suffering.
This is the story of one young child who is currently experiencing the prospect of being displaced from her home. Sumayah, is not a statistic, or a number, she is not a stock photo or a momentary flash on a television news story, she is a 9 years old girl from Albustan, Silwan, Jerusalem. Her family received a demolition notice from the Israeli authorities and for the last five months she has been waiting for bad news. Every night she says she dreams about soldiers coming to take her stuff away. She lives with constant fear and feeling of isolation, she experiences anxiety, and she hasn't been able to communicate properly with her classmates or her family
Sumayah’s mother told us that the demolition notice has transformed all their lives into a nightmare. Relationships between every family member have been affected by the constant stress and fear as a direct result of lacking the basic human need to feel safe.
East Jerusalem YMCA counselors have visited Sumayah, they worked with her on reducing her stress and fear through individual counseling and putting her in a group setting which allows her to express her feelings and fears in safety. Sumayah reported that she feels much better, especially as she has been able to make new friends with other children in the group facing similar struggles and she has built confidence as she was able to learn and share with her family tools that help them to support each other, especially in times of uncertainty and conflict.
The counseling and intervention provided to Sumayah and her family may not prevent their house from being demolished, but it will provide them with a sense of hope and strength as they deal with traumatic experiences.
Our team have worked with the parents on their anxiety and fear, but also equipped them with tools to support their children as they deal together with such a situation, especially the agonizing and seemingly endless waiting for the moment of demolition. With proper emotional support we can help Sumayah’s family and give them the agency to protect their hopes, dreams, and family relationships and the strength they need to rebuild a good life, and overcome their difficulties
Over the past seventy-three years the Israeli government have unlawfully demolished thousands of Palestinian homes and seized Palestinian land for the expansion of the Israeli state.
Housing demolitions are part of a systematic plan by the occupying Israeli forces to appropriate land, with the fewest possible Palestinian residents, in order to grow Israel's land holdings in the occupied West Bank. Israel does this by establishing settlements (illegal under Article 49 of Geneva Convention) or military outposts on this stolen land. In doing so they also steal natural resources, cut off means of transportation and travel for Palestinians, separate local farmers from their agricultural land etc.
By Rami Khader, Director of the East Jerusalem YMCA Rehabilitation Programme