August 4, 2010
Even at 10 in the morning there is no mercy here from the blazing sun or the blade of the bulldozer. We stand with Moen Younis and several of his friends looking at the ruins of his farm house which stood on the crest of a hill only an hour earlier. For nine years it has given him shelter while tending his fields. His home is about three kilometers east in the village of Sanniriya.
“The soldiers just came. I did not receive any notice. There were 7 jeeps with 35 soldiers and the bulldozer.”
At 9:30 am we had received a phone call from Pauline at the EAPPI office in Jerusalem informing us of a demolition in progress in Azzun Atma. Stella and I arrived at the village administration building at 10am. No one seemed to have heard about a demolition until Sameh Ahmid arrived. He took us outside the village to the farmland where men were standing ready to take us to the demolition site.
Below the ruins of his farmhouse was the remains of a building that had sheltered farm animals. It too had been a victim of the soldier’s bulldozer. As we stood looking at the pile of rubble the realization began to sink in like the burning rays of the sun on our backs. Thirty five year old Moen stood apart for a few minutes, looking over the remains, standing tall but with a disguised sadness in his eyes. Someone asked him if he would rebuild? He replied, “no, I am tired.”
As we walked back passed the place where the farmhouse had stood, now only a rock pile and some scattered household items, the conversation shifted to the weather. “The hottest we’ve had in five years.” There was little more to say. “Asef, Moen.” He looked me in the eye and replied in English, “It’s OK.”
And the sun continues to beat down on Azzum Atma, a village with many more demolition orders, five near the Israeli settlement of Sha’ria Tiqwa.