SIX MORE PALESTINIAN HOMES DEMOLISHED IN THE WEST BANK AND JERUSALEM

AS SETTLEMENT EXPANSION CONTINUES

21 August 1996

The campaign to remove Palestinian homes from Israeli-controlled Area C of the West Bank and from East Jerusalem continues this week, as Israeli bulldozers destroyed six homes in two days.

On 19 August, four homes in Tamoun village in the Nablus area were destroyed. According to the homeowners, these homes date back some 50 years. About two months ago, these homeowners received notices that the area in which their houses stood, in the Israeli controlled Area C of the West Bank, had been designated a military area and that their houses were therefore to be demolished. Despite complaints to Israeli army officials, and the severe hardship posed to these families, the following homes were destroyed:

• Sliman Abdullah Bisharat's two room house was destroyed, leaving 11 people homeless;
• Abdullah Jamil Bisharat's two room house was demolished, in which 10 people lived;
• Hassan Abdullah Bisharat's three room house, with 15 people and;
• Ahmad al Hajj Mohammed Abdel Jabber, 80 years old, who is now homeless along with 8 other family members.

On 20 August, two homes in Wadi Qadoom in Jerusalem were destroyed for having no permit.

• Ghalib Burkan's home was destroyed, in which 15 people lived and;
• Hazzem Ghanem's 120 meter home.

While this aggression continues against a Palestinian presence in Area C and Jerusalem, a number of new plans have been announced by the Israeli government to promote the illegal Jewish settler presence in the West Bank. The housing ministry has drafted plans to build 5000 new units in the West Bank, and has called for the immediate transfer of 70,000 Jewish Israelis to live in the Tulkarem and Qalqilya areas of the northern West Bank. A new road has been announced, number 45, to link Lod airport and the Calandia airport near Jerusalem which will cut through the West Bank as well. And finally, the Jerusalem municipality is formalizing plans to expand Jerusalem to incorporate Givat Ze'ev in the north and the area up to Ma'aleh Adumim to the west.

The continuing brutal policy of house demolition again highlights the Israeli government's determination to clear areas of the West Bank of an Arab presence, and to limit the Palestinian presence in East Jerusalem. The cruelty in destroying a family home, particularly since so many depend on so little space, compounded by the aggressive plans to expand and promote the Jewish presence in the West Bank, further increase tensions in the area and reflect a total disregard for the obligations come to in the Oslo agreements.

LAWE - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment is a non-governmental organization, dedicated to preserving human rights through legal advocacy. LAWE is also an affiliate member of the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights.