Because the Israeli military authorities of the West Bank and the Jerusalem municipality only very rarely issue building permits to Palestinian residents, and zoning plans for Palestinian communities are restrictive and have not been updated since 1967, Palestinians must build illegally to alleviate extreme overcrowding. Residents cannot take advantage of the low mortgage rates or the low-interest loans available to the illegal Jewish settlements of the West Bank and Jerusalem, so they must invest their life savings into their homes. This adds to the economic as well as human devastation caused by these demolitions. It is significant to note that successive Israeli administrations have not only dramatically increased the illegal settler population of the West Bank through favorable building rates and other incentives, but have systematically destroyed Palestinian homes.

On May 18, 1997, Israeli Defense Ministry officials stated that 860 Palestinian homes had been targeted for demolition. In fact, since the election of Prime Minister Netanyahu on May 29, 1996, nearly 245 homes have already been destroyed. House demolitions are not new, however - since the Oslo Accord was signed in an atmosphere of “good faith” in September 1993, 513 homes have been destroyed, 268 of which under the previous Labor administration. This campaign to destroy Palestinian homes has taken on a new impetus in the first three weeks of August - 48 homes were demolished in these three weeks alone.Documents and maps showing the location of the homes targeted for demolition reveal that these homes are mainly located near Jewish settlements, military areas or near settler by-pass roads in the still occupied 73% of the West Bank (Area C). For example, the five homes destroyed in Hebron on May 5th were located near a newly-constructed by-pass road, meant to serve local Jewish settlements. The latest trends in Israel’s policy of house demolition, and the most recent announcements can be seen as the final necessary step in order to consolidate Israeli control over Jerusalem and the West Bank before the final status negotiations, to cleanse areas of the West Bank of a Palestinian presence in order to be able to negotiate over “empty” land near the settlements and by-pass roads. The pattern of house demolition shows that many houses are demolished in the same place at once. Again, the 5 homes destroyed in Hebron on May 5th were in the same region.

The demolition of homes is a violation of the most basic of human rights (the right to shelter) and constitutes a critical humanitarian issue. Because extended Palestinian families tend to live together, and because housing permits are almost never issued, overcrowding is an acute problem. Therefore the demolition of just one house renders often more than 15 people homeless, the elderly and children alike.

Besides the basic inhumanity involved in the destruction of homes and the ensuing homelessness, its use as a political tool to prejudice and predetermine the outcome of the “peace negotiations” reveals a total departure from the understandings and assurances of the Oslo agreements. Provision 1 (c) of Article XII of Oslo II specifically forbids the “demolition or removal of existing buildings or installations.”

Numbers are approximate. Data compiled from information given by Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai,
Ir Shalem (On Jerusalem), and LAW

For more information on house demolition see the following LAW publications:

• November 1997 Bulldozed into Cantons - Israel's House Demolition Policy in the West Bank Since the Signing of the Oslo Accords


• May 1996 Anata, A case study of collective punishment and house demolition


• June 1995 House demolition and the control of Jerusalem, case study of Issawiya village


• Jan 1994 House demolition campaign