home demolitions

A pamphlet from students at the University of Applied Arts Vienna calling to boycott Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, which forms part of the exhibition "The Splinter" at Bezalel, Jerusalem. (Hadas Hay)

Can an exhibition be ‘explicitly political’ at Israel’s preeminent art school?

‘The Splinter’ at Bezalel Academy was born out of calls to boycott the institution. The result was a fraught collaboration between student unions.

By Dikla Taylor-Sheinman July 9, 2026

Residents salvage furniture before demolishing their homes, A-Sir, Israel, June 16, 2026. (Oren Ziv)

Hundreds of Bedouin left homeless as Israel ramps up Naqab expulsions

Residents of two unrecognized Palestinian villages were forced to dismantle their own homes — the latest chapter in a decades-long cycle of displacement.

By Oren Ziv June 24, 2026

Fakhri Abu Diab, beside the rubble of his house that the Jerusalem Municipality demolished in 2024, Al-Bustan, Silwan, occupied East Jerusalem. (Faiz Abu Rmeleh)

In East Jerusalem, ‘a whole Palestinian community is about to be expelled’

Israel is forcing out Al-Bustan’s 1,500 residents to build a biblical theme park. To avoid paying huge fines, families are demolishing their own homes.

By Shatha Yaish May 1, 2026

Latest

Shadmot Mehola Solar Field, in the Jordan Valley, occupied West Bank. (Sofia Fani Gutman)

With foreign backing, Israel’s solar energy boom is powering apartheid

Israel’s self-branding as a pioneer in sustainability obscures how its ‘green development’ is fueling the takeover of Palestinian land and resources — and international corporations are helping to bankroll it.

By Sofia Fani Gutman, Carolina Pedrazzi and Andrey X February 20, 2026

The Hureini family's guesthouse in the village of At-Tuwani, Masafer Yatta, October 15, 2025. (Omri Eran-Vardi)

Israel is set to destroy our guesthouse. But Masafer Yatta still welcomes all who resist

My family has hosted hundreds of activists, journalists, and politicians in At-Tuwani. If this demolition proceeds, half of our West Bank village may be next.

By Mohammad Hureini November 25, 2025

Khalil Al-Hathalin, a representative of Umm Al-Khair’s residents, indicates on a map the area of the village threatened by Israeli demolition orders, in Umm Al-Khair, Masafer Yatta, occupied West Bank, October 29, 2025. (Mosab Shawer/Activestills)

In Umm Al-Khair, erasure seems only a matter of time

With demolitions looming and settler violence escalating, our community faces a coordinated push to break our spirit and uproot us from our land.

By Tariq Hathaleen and Ahmed Hathaleen November 20, 2025

Rabbi Avraham Zarviv poses for a picture on June 29, 2025. (Liron Moldovan/Flash90)

Israel’s destroyer-in-chief in Gaza lives in a settlement home marked for demolition

Avraham Zarviv, who boasted of razing 50 buildings a week as a reservist in Gaza, has an unenforced demolition order on his own West Bank home.

By Oren Ziv July 30, 2025

Israeli forces demolish buildings in Khirbet Khilet al-Dabe, in Masafer Yatta, the West Bank, May 5, 2025. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

Palestinians awoke to bulldozers. Their village was destroyed by noon

Within hours, Israeli forces demolished homes, wells, and even caves in the West Bank hamlet of Khilet al-Dabe’, leaving families with nowhere to shelter.

By Basel Adra May 6, 2025

Israeli forces destroy a building in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, Feb. 20, 2024. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)

Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes in Jerusalem hit new record

In 2024, Israel destroyed 181 homes and approved the fewest Palestinian building plans in a decade, while greenlighting thousands of settlement units.

By Georgia Gee and Dikla Taylor-Sheinman March 6, 2025

Israeli police surround and destroy the mosque in Umm Al-Hiran, Nov. 14, 2024. (Oren Ziv)

The entire history of Zionism’s injustices, in one Bedouin village

The destruction of Umm Al-Hiran exemplifies the Zionist view of Palestinians as impermanent; moveable chess pieces in a game of demographic engineering.

By Orly Noy November 20, 2024

Israeli security forces destroy a house in Silwan, February 14, 2024. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)

Under cover of war, Israel is demolishing home after home in Silwan

The government has accelerated plans to depopulate the East Jerusalem neighborhood, displacing dozens of Palestinian residents this year.

By Jessica Buxbaum September 6, 2024

Eid al-Hathaleen stands atop the rubble of his home after it was demolished by the Israeli Civil Administration, Umm al-Khair, occupied West Bank, July 7, 2024. (Emily Glick)

In Umm al-Khair, the occupation is damning us to multigenerational trauma

I saw the first bulldozers arrive in my village 17 years ago. Now, after the most brutal weeks in our history, my son will carry similarly painful memories.

By Awdah Hathaleen July 22, 2024

Shoug Al Adara in her home in At-Tuwani, December 2023. (Emily Glick)

A settler shot my husband. Then Israel bulldozed my childhood home

Zakariyah has suffered immensely since being wounded by an Israeli settler. Yet his attacker roams free, and demolitions continue to devastate our communities in Masafer Yatta.

By Shoug Al Adara June 20, 2024