This year we, the participants of ICAHD`s 2010 work camp, will be rebuilding the home of the Hamdan family: the parents Youssef and Ouda and their four children, Mohamed, Kassem, Saja and Hasma. The Hamdan home, located in the Jerusalem section of Anata, was first demolished in 2005 for lack of a building permit (which is virtually impossible for Palestinians to acquire). ICAHD began rebuilding the home in its 2007 work camp, but because the Wall was being built just in front of their home at the time, conflicts between the residents and the police and army reached such a pitch that we were forced to suspend the construction and move to another house. In 2008 we returned to the Hamdan home and rebuilt it, only to have it demolished once again. Now we are back to rebuild the home for the third time.
The vast majority of homes built by ICAHD have remained, but we do lose some, occasionally twice, three or even four times. ICAHD rebuilds homes with our Palestinian, Israeli and international partners as acts of political resistance to the Occupation, not as humanitarian acts. In that context rebuilding makes sense, even if it means repeated confrontations with the Israeli authorities.
We see the demolition of the Occupation and oppression and so we engage in construction, constructing a just peace.