Demolitions

Demolition of three Palestinian structures in East Jerusalem.

The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) has estimated that since 1967 almost 50,000 Palestinian homes and structures have been demolished by the Israeli authorities.

As in many other parts of the world, Palestinians must apply to the authorities for permission to build homes and other structures, such as schools and medical clinics. However, unlike in other places, these applications are made to an occupying authority and are almost certain to be rejected. In addition to the small probability of success, these applications can cost thousands of pounds and take years to be processed.

This means that when Palestinians need to build new structures, they often do so without Israeli permission. The Israeli authorities then issue a demolition order to the owners. After some time, which ranges from hours to years, soldiers and bulldozers demolish the buildings and often charge the owners for the cost of the demolition.

The impact of all demolitions is that Palestinians are forced to leave the area in which they live, meaning that this practice constitutes a form of forced displacement which is illegal under international law.

Traditional Palestinian shepherding (Bedouin) communities are particularly vulnerable to evictions and demolitions. These tented communities are predominantly based in Area C and in the suburbs of East Jerusalem, which Israel has unlawfully annexed into its sovereign territory.

Settlements

The Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim on the outskirts of East Jerusalem

Figures for the end of 2017 estimate that over 620,000 Israeli citizens live in settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. There has been a significant increase in the settler population since 2000. Most of the international community holds that these settlements violates Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which does not allow an occupying power to transfer any of its population into occupied land.

The Israeli government position is that these planned settlement communities in the West Bank are legal. Israel argues that there is no occupation as the land had no sovereign power in control when they captured it. Therefore, they say that the West Bank is ‘disputed’ territory whose ultimate status will be determined when peace is eventually negotiated. Despite condemnation from the international community, the Israeli government have continued with its settlement expansion programme.

Settlements deeply impact how people live their lives in the occupied West Bank. Israeli human rights group Yesh Din contend that settlement building involves the appropriation of Palestinian land on a huge scale. Hundreds of thousands of acres of land used by Palestinians for farming, grazing and living has been seized. Land has been taken to build hundreds of kilometres of roads that are solely for use by settlers. The route of the Separation Barrier runs up to 20km deep into Palestinian land, effectively annexing it to Israel to allow for settlement development on the Israeli side of the barrier.

Successive Israeli governments have provided incentives for Jewish Israeli citizens to move to the West Bank. They have offered a better quality of life and more affordable, subsidised housing. Generous loans and grants have been advanced and incentives given to attract teachers, parents and businesses. Other Israelis choose to live in settlements for ideological, nationalist and religious reasons.