He had planned to build 13 stories here, and had completed nine, but last week the forces of destruction swept across the site and brought down it and nine other buildings. They left only the bottom two floors intact, but the blast wrought above them by soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, with crates of explosives scattered on every floor that produced a tremendous aftershock, makes it impossible to use the remnant of the bottom floors.

The building's owner casts a sad gaze over the ruins, his eyes damp and red from a lack of sleep, and he says softly, not for the first time: "I'd like to ask Meni Mazuz how this is this going to help security" – referring to the judge who wrote the High Court of Justice's decision letting the demolition proceed.

The question hangs ruefully in the air. The whole world of Muhammad Abu Tair, who owned the building that was toppled, lies in ruins along with the structure itself. "There is no justice at the High Court of Justice," he says.