The Sub Labans lost their home of several decades after being forced out by Israel at the start of the month. Willem Marx recounts the story of the eviction, and the push to force Palestinians out.

Occupied East Jerusalem – In the darkness, just after 4:30am [01:30 GMT], police officers began to seal off the narrow sloping street, al-Khalidiyya Ascent, named for an illustrious family who had established a nearby public library.

Some of the officers positioned themselves in doorways opposite the designated building, equipped with Kevlar vests and truncheons, others in a row along the top of a stone step.

Despite the dim grey light, the soaring Dome of the Rock inside the al-Aqsa Mosque compound was still visible in the near distance, towering over the alleyway and the rooftops.

The police commander’s quiet signal was eventually given less than an hour later. After decades of conflict, debate and courtroom drama leading up to this finale, the speed of the eviction on July 11 was itself extraordinary.

A small team of officers entered through the cornflower blue metal door into the building’s cramped foyer.

They needed just a handful of seconds to break open the white wooden doorway of the Sub Laban family home for the past 70 years.

“It was very, very fast,” said Alma Shibolet, one of a small number of people who had been inside the cramped 60-square-metre (645-square-foot) apartment. “They just push the door, came storming in, like dozens of them, immediately.”