4. Behind the Numbers: Home Demolitions in Occupied East Jerusalem

Abstract

When you look at the chart below (Figure 4.1), you will see a series of steady orange and black bars followed by a large spike in 2016. Once you take a closer look at the caption you will understand that this chart shows the number of structures destroyed and people affected by Israel’s policy of home demolitions. As Nathan Yau, author of Flowing Data, put it, “data is an abstraction of real life” (2013). Each number represents a family, and each number tells a story. “Broken Homes” is the most comprehensive project to date tracking home demolitions in East Jerusalem, a