Juwana and her baby Michael sitting in the one family/sitting room.

Just off the main market road in the Old City, take a few rights, climb the narrow, old stone steps and you will find the Hadawar family – all seven them. Until recently, six adults and little Michael lived in four tiny rooms taking up about 800 square feet. For years, Hannah and Michael, now in their 70s, had three of their grown children living with them, plus a daughter-in-law and their 15-month-old grandson.

Their son Hana is a carpenter, and they have been saving for a place of their own. His wife, Jumana, is from Beit Jala, and until now has been denied the reunification permit she needs from Israel to live legally with her husband in Jerusalem. They recently rented one small room near Damascus Gate for $300 per month so they can have rent and utility bills in their name so they can establish that Jerusalem is the center of their life, a necessary step in the long process of getting the permit.

Jumana, Hana and Michael sleep on one side of the room and Michael and Hannah sleep on the other. This photo of the bedroom was taken from Hannah and Michael's side of the room.

Their youngest son Tamer is now 26 and would like to get married, but the crowded conditions have so far kept him single.

Meanwhile just around the corner plans have been approved for a new Jewish-only settlement of 30 new apartments, a recreation area and possibly a synogogue in the Muslim Quarter on three-quarters of an acre near the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

These crowded conditions have been common in East Jerusalem for many years due to the harsh restrictions on building Palestinian housing. Now the Separation Wall threatens to cut off 50,000 current Jerusalemites from access to the city and services there, the flood of residents to the Jerusalem side of the wall has made the housing shortage a crisis.