Residents in Batn al-Hawa have all but given up hope and blame the Gaza war which, they say, has created ‘an atmosphere of hate’ towards them
T
he dome of the al-Aqsa mosque gleamed in the late afternoon autumnal sun as Zohair Rajabi looked out from his balcony towards the skyline of Jerusalem’s Old City. Christian pilgrims spilled out of buses, while observant Jewish worshippers gathered outside the gate to the Western Wall.
New flags now fly a few metres from Rajabi’s home. Blue and white and bearing the Star of David, they mark where residents were evicted recently from their homes by Israeli police. After more than 20 years of activism, Rajabi knows his days in Batn al-Hawa, a predominantly Palestinian neighbourhood less than a mile south of the Old City, are almost certainly numbered.
“Yes I have lost. I have been defeated. I am not only waiting for my home to be taken but for every home here to be taken,” the 55-year-old said.
