Demolitions to force all Bedouin out of Area C
Report from UN OCHA plus one of the many reports about the demolitions which B’Tselem has been releasing during the summer.
One of 7 structures demolished on 3 September 2015 by Israeli authorities in the East Tayba Bedouin community of the central West Bank, displacing 9 Palestinians, including 5 children, due to lack of Israeli-issued building permits. Photo from UN OCHA occupied Palestinian territory
Israeli demolition orders boost vulnerability of thousands of West Bank Palestinians, UN warns
By UN News centre
September 08, 2015
A new United Nations report shows that, according to official data released by the Israeli authorities, more than 11,000 demolition orders are currently outstanding in the 60 per cent of the West Bank over which Israel still retains direct control – known as Area C.
These orders – which affect an estimated 13,000 Palestinian-owned structures, including homes – are among the over 14,000 demolition orders issued by the Israeli Civil Administration between 1988 and 2014.
Area C is home to some 300,000 Palestinians and 77 per cent of the demolition orders affect structures located on privately-owned Palestinian land, according to the report, produced by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
“These orders heighten the vulnerability of thousands of poor Palestinian households, some of whom are at imminent risk of forcible displacement,” said the Office.
The report comes in the context of a rise in demolitions in the West Bank, with 143 Palestinian structures having been demolished during August 2015 – the highest such number in five years.
Palestinian Bedouin communities in the central West Bank are at particularly high risk of forcible transfer due to an official Israeli plan to relocate them. Structures in eight of these communities have been demolished since 17 August, OCHA noted.
“As we have said repeatedly, the Secretary-General calls on the Israeli authorities to halt demolitions of Palestinian-owned structures, to revoke plans that would result in the forcible transfer of Palestinian communities, and to implement an inclusive planning and zoning regime that will enable Palestinians’ residential and community development needs to be met,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for Ban Ki-moon, told reporters in New York.
The Daraghmeh family home in Khirbet Einun this morning, before and after demolition. Photo by ‘Aref Daraghmeh, B’Tselem
By B’Tselem
August 20, 2015
This morning, 20 Aug. 2015, Civil Administration and military representatives came to the community of Khirbet ‘Einun, which is located around 5 km east of Tubas. The forces demolished the homes of two families, totaling 11 people, including 7 minors, and a sheep pen. Then, the forces moved on to the Khirbet a-Deir community, located between the Palestinian village Ein al-Beida and the Jordan border. They demolished the home of an 8 person family, including three minors. The authorities also demolished an unused structure in the Khirbet Samrah community, southeast of Tubas.
Residents of the Jordan Valley experienced temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius today. In most of the communities in the area, as in other parts of the area C, Israel prevents Palestinians from establishing permanent homes and connecting them to water and electricity infrastructures, thereby leaving them exposed to the elements throughout the year. Today, the authorities left 19 persons, including 10 minors, in conditions of extreme heat without any solution.
This is the third time this week the authorities have demolished homes and income generating structures in area C. The wave of demolitions left dozens of people homeless in the extreme August heat. Since 5 Aug. 2015, the Civil Administration has demolished 34 residential buildings and 31 other structures in Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley, in the vicinity of Ma’ale Adumim, and in the southern Hebron hills. A total of 167 people have lost their homes in these actions, including 101 minors.
These demolitions take part in the context of efforts by the military and the Civil Administration to push Palestinian communities out of Area C. These expulsion plans run counter to the provisions of international humanitarian law, which prohibit the forcible transfer of protected persons, unless carried out for their own protection or for an imperative military need. Even when the transfer meets these criteria, it must be temporary. Moreover, as the occupying power, Israel has an obligation to work for the benefit and welfare of the residents of the occupied territory. The plan to expel these residents from their homes as well as impose living conditions on some that would undermine their livelihood violates this obligation.
West Bank: Israel plans to demolish 17,000 Palestinian-owned buildings
By Al-Araby al-Jadeed staff
September 07, 2015
Up to 17,000 structures belonging to Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank have been designated for destruction by Israel, according to a UN report.
The structures are on privately owned Palestinian land in Area C, an part of the West Bank under Israeli military and civilian control.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that, of the 14,000 demolition orders issued since 1988 by Israel’s Civil Administration, which governs the West Bank, more than 11,000 have not yet been carried out.
This means up to 17,000 Palestinian owned structures in Area C could be destroyed, including houses, sheds and shelters for animals.
The figures used in the report came from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.
B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, said that Israel retained control of security and land management in Area C and “views the area as there to serve its own needs”, reported The Guardian.
Palestinian Bedouins are affected by around 4,500 of these demolition orders.
Human rights organisations argue Israel wants to force Bedouins from their land so that it can expand Israeli-only settlements, which are illegal under international law.
In addition to the demolition orders made against Palestinians, a further 6,950 were made against illegal structures build in Jewish settlements.
According to Israeli Civil Administration data, of the 2,020 applications for building permits submitted by Palestinians in Area C between 2010 and 2014, only 33 (1.5 percent) were approved.
Area C makes up 60 percent of the West Bank and was designated as such by the 1995 Oslo II Accord.
There are 300,000 Palestinians living in Area C, and nearly 360,000 Jewish settlers living in 135 settlements – illegal under international law – and 100 further settlement “outposts” that are also illegal under Israeli law.