‘Zionist Regime’s Demolition of Palestinian Structures Up 10%’
WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s demolition and confiscation of Palestinian-owned structures in the West Bank soared by ten percent last year as the regime continues with its land expropriation policies in the occupied territories in defiance of international law, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says.
"While in Area C, which makes over 60% of the area of the West Bank and is under full Israeli military control, the number of structures targeted in both years was approximately the same and stood at 270, occupied East Jerusalem (al-Quds) recorded a 25% increase compared to 2017. Of all structures targeted during 2018, 56 were donor-funded humanitarian aid structures, representing a 46% decline, compared to 2017 figures,” the UN body said in a report published on Sunday.
The report added that two of this month’s demolitions were on what regime officials described as punitive grounds, and the rest were due to the lack of difficult-to-obtain Israeli building permits.
"About 70% of the structures targeted this month were in Area C. The largest incident took place on December 4th in the Beit Hanina – al-Marwaha neighborhood, a community on the ‘al-Quds side’ of the wall barrier, where eight commercial structures were demolished and goods were confiscated.
"Five families, who reported a financial loss of almost 1.5 million Israeli shekels ($400,000), were affected. In another incident, the livelihoods of 70 people were affected by the demolition of a leather store on the margins of al-Bireh City near the Ramallah district,” OCHA pointed out.
Since 1967, the regime has been enforcing the draconian policy of demolishing the homes of those Palestinians who are deemed by Tel Aviv to be behind fatal attacks against Zionist settlers. The practice, however, was temporarily halted from 2005 to 2014, with the exception of 2009, when scores of homes were sealed and razed in East al-Quds.
Nevertheless, in 2014 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced as a policy the resumption of demolitions in the occupied West Bank.
This picture taken on November 21, 2018 shows two excavators of the al-Quds municipality, demolishing one of over a dozen shops in the Arab-inhabited Shuafat refugee camp in Israeli-annexed East al-Quds, which Zionist regime authorities said were built without a permit.
"While in Area C, which makes over 60% of the area of the West Bank and is under full Israeli military control, the number of structures targeted in both years was approximately the same and stood at 270, occupied East Jerusalem (al-Quds) recorded a 25% increase compared to 2017. Of all structures targeted during 2018, 56 were donor-funded humanitarian aid structures, representing a 46% decline, compared to 2017 figures,” the UN body said in a report published on Sunday.
The report added that two of this month’s demolitions were on what regime officials described as punitive grounds, and the rest were due to the lack of difficult-to-obtain Israeli building permits.
"About 70% of the structures targeted this month were in Area C. The largest incident took place on December 4th in the Beit Hanina – al-Marwaha neighborhood, a community on the ‘al-Quds side’ of the wall barrier, where eight commercial structures were demolished and goods were confiscated.
"Five families, who reported a financial loss of almost 1.5 million Israeli shekels ($400,000), were affected. In another incident, the livelihoods of 70 people were affected by the demolition of a leather store on the margins of al-Bireh City near the Ramallah district,” OCHA pointed out.
Since 1967, the regime has been enforcing the draconian policy of demolishing the homes of those Palestinians who are deemed by Tel Aviv to be behind fatal attacks against Zionist settlers. The practice, however, was temporarily halted from 2005 to 2014, with the exception of 2009, when scores of homes were sealed and razed in East al-Quds.
Nevertheless, in 2014 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced as a policy the resumption of demolitions in the occupied West Bank.
This picture taken on November 21, 2018 shows two excavators of the al-Quds municipality, demolishing one of over a dozen shops in the Arab-inhabited Shuafat refugee camp in Israeli-annexed East al-Quds, which Zionist regime authorities said were built without a permit.