The Digital Journalist
Photo by THOMAS HALEY/SIPA PRESS
AZMIR ISSA DAMIRI, standing on the roof of his unfinished home near the village of Ar Ras. Azmir and his family were refugees after 1947, they lived in the refugee camp of Tulkarem for 37 years. He worked hard as an agricultural laboror and saved up enough money to buy some land and build this house five years ago. He recently received an eviciton notice. The Israelis plan to demolish his house because it is too close to the recently constructed line of separation. "They say that I don't have a permit to build on agricultural land -- but the settlers who built their settlement nearby, they didn't have a building permit either, they didn't even pay for the land!" Azmir refuses to prepare for the evacuation of his house -- "to go where, he asks, they will have to bury me in the ruins."