Homeless, angry, and hopeless

This is what we saw a month ago, when the home of the Kastero family in Beit Hanina, north of Jerusalem, was totally demolished by authorities as "illegal construction" on February 5.

Today we visited the family in their temporary housing on the site. Some of the tents, erected by the Red Cross on the same day as the demolition, are pitched right in front of the rubble.

Temporary bathroom

The oldest of the Kastero brothers, Muhammed Saleh, is not living in a tent like his brothers and parents. He is in a "container" that he says cost over $7,000, and he is having trouble making the payments. It has a heater, television, and beds donated by the Red Cross--but the roof leaks when it rains.

Kitchen (left), Muhammed Saleh's container, and one of the tents

Muhammed Saleh Kastero

Muhammed Saleh, who has eight children, worked for 37 years as truck mechanic, but now he does not feel like working at all. "I'm very angry, all the time, since the demolition," he says. He showed us the television video of his children screaming when they came home from school to see their house being destroyed. He says they were seriously traumatized. In his words, "They will not forget this. They are not looking for peace. Maybe they will become terrorists. Israel taught us to be terrorists."

He notes that Israeli authorities only destroy Palestinian homes, never Jewish ones, even those of illegal settlers who build without permits and later become legalized by the government.

Saleh showing his permit application

Muhammed Saleh says he built his house in 2004, and has paid all taxes on the property. He showed us the survey plat and application for a building permit, which cost $5000 to prepare, but was not able to stop the destruction of the home. He has not yet received the bill from the government for the cost of the demolition, but he knows it is coming.

Since the home was the family's main asset, they cannot afford to rent a new one, even if they could find one that his big enough for all 28 of them. So he has no idea how long they will be in the temporary quarters. They expect to finish two structures in a couple of weeks so the rest of the family can move out of tents, but they will be portable, in case they are served another demolition order.

New homes for the Kostero family