'Demolition of Palestinian homes in West Bank's Area C tripled in 2010'
A B'Tselem report reveals that as a result, 472 Palestinians, including 223 minors, lost their homes last year, up from 217 - including 60 minors - in 2009.
By Amira HassThe number of Palestinian residences demolished by Israel's Civil Administration in the part of the West Bank under full Israeli control tripled last year compared to 2009, data complied by B'Tselem shows.
Attorney Shlomo Lecker, who has represented the Jahalin Bedouin tribe in the West Bank for years, attributed the increase in Area C demolitions directly to the increased pressure applied over the last two years by both settlers and a new organization, Regavim.
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Palestinian women stand near the ruins of a home that was razed in East Jerusalem, November 24 2010. |
| Photo by: Reuters |
The latter, which sees its aim as preserving state lands in the West Bank, has waged both legal and media battles against what it claims is a policy of ignoring illegal Palestinian construction.
In 2010, the Civil Administration destroyed 86 residences in Area C, including tents and shacks, B'Tselem said. That compares to only 28 in 2009. As a result, 472 Palestinians, including 223 minors, lost their homes last year, up from 217 (including 60 minors ) in 2009.
The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said there was also a rise in demolitions of income-producing structures in Area C, especially cisterns, which are vital for sheepherding and agriculture.
Destroyed cisterns affected 14,136 Palestinians last year, up from 764 in 2009, OCHA said. This increases poverty and dependence on external aid, and in the long run is thus even more harmful than the destruction of residences, the organization added.
As an example of the increased pressure by settlers and Regavim, Lecker cited the demolition orders that the Civil Administration issued against an entire Bedouin village near Khan al-Ahmar, northeast of Jerusalem, in November 2010.
The village's approximately 100 residents say they have been living there for decades, but had never received a single demolition order before.
Lecker believes the orders stemmed directly from a petition to the High Court of Justice filed in September by Regavim and three nearby settlements, Kfar Adumim, Alon and Nofei Prat. That petition asked the court to order the demolition of a school made of old tires and to issue demolition orders to 258 Jahalin Bedouin structures in the area.
Even though it was rejected by the court, he said, the petition prompted the Civil Administration to launch a major campaign to get the Jahalin out of the area.
Lecker claimed that the Civil Administration's inspection unit is staffed mainly by settlers or people with sympathetic views. As a result, he wrote in a High Court petition that he filed two weeks ago in an effort to get the demolition orders canceled, it is influenced by "political motives" and effectively serves "as the operational arm of the Yesha Council of settlements with regard to forbidding Palestinian construction in Area C."
The petition also noted that while master plans enabling construction exist for many of the settlements, no such plans exist for Palestinians in Area C.
On January 12, the Civil Administration destroyed 17 structures in the Bedouin village of Dakeika, south of the Hebron Hills. This happened even though the residents, at the High Court's suggestion, were in the process of preparing a master plan for the village, and the court had promised to reconsider their petition against the demolition orders once the master plan was completed.
"The reporter' claims regarding an enforcement policy derived from direct pressure by the Regavim organization and the city of Maaleh Adumim, or from any other external consideration is completely unfounded," the Coordinator of Government Activity in the Territories said in a statement.
The statement also said that the Civil Administration was supporting the project of transferring West Bank Bedouins to permanent settlements. The spokesman did not reply to Haaretz queries regarding the demolition orders handed out to the tribe at Khan al-Ahmar.
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Israel was and remain a criminal entity, based on land theft, destruction of houses, imprisoning and killing of the indigenious population. It is a shame for the whole world, especially for the USA to have not only tolerated, but also supported Israel´s politic. The billions of $ from USA and Germany have created a rouge state, who is ignoring international laws and human rights.
Despite the blaring headline, the actual article shows that very few permanent structures were removed. No country can or should allow building wherever people want without permits.
And in case you weren't(like anyone will believe that), building permits, as a rule, AREN'T issued to anyone but Jews!
This happens not to be true for the most part. More permits are approved for Arabs in most parts of Area C than for Jews. And now it has become public that Bibi has quietly stopped permits for Jews in key areas.
Israel has systematically uprooted and expelled thousands of Pals and Bedouins from the South Hebron hills and Jordan Valley. It's always the same trick - they claim they need the land for a military base, then that base gets mysteriously closed and the land passed to developers to build Jewish-only settlements. When Cal Houn says no building should be allowed without permits, that of course is another key trick in Israel's little ethnic repertoire - Arabs never get building permits, they are rejected on spurious grounds, lost in the system, delayed for years by obfuscation. The whole thing is a long-running insidious ethnic cleansing campaign, designed to expel Arabs and Judaize Palestine block by block.
When Israel does not give any permits ?
Sorry but this wasn't done in Israel.It was done in an area under a brutal occupation to a people who have seen more than 23,000 homes demolished since the occupation began.
I'm sure if it was the Palestinians tearing down Israeli homes it'd be considered terrorism and an act of anti-semitism. Here's its considered justice. Double standard, or pure racial injustice?
Has the lust for land totally destroyed any sense of common humanity among the Israelis???? Bring on a Palestinian state with 67 borders and forget about a demilitarised quasi state as the Palestinians will obviously need some means to counter blatant Israeli aggression.
No they are not being loaded into cattle cars and shipped out, only because that would be too obvious, but they're being squeezed out in every other way...especially the destruction of their livelihoods. The destroying of their cisterns is part of a concerted effort aimed directly at this...and its being done ever so quietly...isn't it? Want to know why the human rights NGO's are being targetted? Because they're the ONLY source for these, and other, dirty little secrets.
In other words, probably about a dozen newly constructed illegal homes were destroyed after due legal process. For Giggles this is "ethnic cleansing". Yet he has no problem with Arabs demanding to drive nearly three-quarters of a million Jews from their homes in cities and towns in Judea, Samaria, and parts of Jerusalem. What fun to be an Israel basher!
"Destroyed cisterns affected 14,136 Palestinians last year" Water for themselves and their herds. And sorry bud, but your settlers shouldn't be there to begin with. Want to talk about the numbers of Palestinians already driven out by your settlers and the state of Israel? And your three-quarters is pure BS...more like a little over ONE quarter...maybe a bit more counting E.Jerusalem.
were not driven out from their homes in US or anywhere in Europe. They just came to settle in illegal areas though there had been place enough somewhere else in Israel.
Tsk Tsk