Urgent call for help: send a fax or email and join

the protest tent

No to the demolitions in Halisa

The residents of Halisa will not become refugees in their own city again!

Last week, on the eve of the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Adha dozens of policemen arrived at Raziel 4 Street in the neighborhood of Halisa in Haifa, with the intent of carrying out a demolition order by the municipality of Haifa and destroy the balconies and supporting columns of a three-story building. This planned demolition is the tip of an iceberg of a demolition and evacuation plan threatening all the neighborhoods' residents.

The balconies on Raziel 4 were rebuilt after the municipality sued the residents claiming that the old balconies were hazardous. The supporting columns of the building were built because of an imminent danger to the stability of the entire building. In demanding that the residents destroy these "additions", the municipality's officials were not ashamed to threaten that during the demolition they would damage the building and sue its residents for the cost of the demolition and for these damages. This brutal demolition plan is endangering a building in which ten families live.

The residents of the building on Raziel St. 4 have filed a request to the local planning and building committee to approve the building, but this request was rejected based upon a "building plan" for Halisa, which states that the roads would be widened by demolishing rooms, yards, and balconies in all streets of the neighborhood. The residents of the neighborhood fiercely oppose this destructive plan which is without precedent in Haifa. The municipality's insistence on performing the demolitions contradicts all the promises made about a! change of approach towards Halisa, and places all the houses in the neighborhood in danger.

In November, following widespread public protest against the demolition plan, the mayor of Haifa  made an explicit promise to delegates of the Arab public in Haifa that no demolitions would be performed in Halisa until agreement about the neighborhood building plan would be reached. But then another element intervened: following shady and suspicious business deals real estate sharks are trying to take hold of land in Halisa, evacuate dozens of families and leave them hom! eless. Following the request of these "entrepreneurs", the municipality of Haifa is now breaching the explicit agreement it had with the representatives of the Arab public, and volunteering to begin the demolitions on Raziel 4, as part of the evacuation and demolition plan.

Most residents of Halisa are refugees who lost all their property when their villages were destroyed in 1948. What is less well-known to the Haifa public is that most residents of Halisa were made refugees for a second time in 1967, when the municipality of Haifa completely demolished the shack neighborhood in the "Shemen" industrial area. The residents, who were also forced to pay for the demolitions, went to live in caves and destroyed homes in Wadi Rushmia. We shall not a! gree that in 2005 residents of Halisa will become refuges for the third time!

The neighborhood committees of the Arab neighborhoods in Haifa, together with all Arab political parties and social organizations, and with the public bodies working to promote the joint life of Jews and Arabs, are organizing for a widespread public struggle to prevent the demolitions.
Update Tuesday, 25 January 2005 - today at the early morning hours, a demolition contractor showed up with a group of high ranking police officers.
Those who can show up in short notice if the demolition will start
are requested to contact Yana, 050-8575729
we shall call you in case of emergency
Please visit the protest tent - it encourages the residents and increases the public campaign

Please help strengthen our demand by sending a fax (preferably) or an email to
the Mayor of Haifa, Mr. Yonah Yahav. 

Fax 04-8356020

To Email in Hebrew:  pniotz@haifa.muni.il

Email in English: Secretary@haifa.muni.il

The planned demolitions in Halisa are a hard blow to Arab-Jewish relations in Haifa,

relations which we will be able to take pride in only when they are based on real equality and mutual respect!

Say Yes to the right of the Arab residents of Haifa to live safely in their homes!

Emergency Public Committee
against the   demolitions in Halisa