TEN PALESTINIAN HOMES THREATENED WITH DEMOLITION IN NABLUS

LAWE - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment

PO Box 20873

Jerusalem

Tel: (972) (2) 812364/824559

Fax: (972) (2) 811072

email: lawe@netvision.net.il

26 July 1996

Nablus, West Bank -- Ten houses, located in an older neighborhood on the borders of the Nablus municipality, were served demolition orders by the Israeli army on 25 July. This neighborhood of some thirty homes has been standing since the 1970's, and receives municipal services like water and electricity from the Nablus municipality.

These homes, however, are located just meters away from the Nablus municipal limits, in the so-called Area C of the West Bank that is still occupied by the Israeli army. Some of the houses of the neighborhood have building permits, but for others the Israeli military administration refused to issue building licenses (a common method routinely used by the Israeli government to restrict the natural growth of Arab communities in the West Bank and Jerusalem). These administrative demolition orders for having no building permit give only fourteen days for appeal - an inadequate period particularly since the total blockade of the West Bank is still in effect and home-owners are unable to enter Jerusalem to seek legal aid.

LAWE - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment condemns this cruel practice on the part of the Israeli government. LAWE sees continuing house demolition as clearly politically motivated, as the Israeli military administration in the West Bank attempts to clear Arab homes from the still-occupied Area C. Fifty-three homes have been destroyed and over 187 house demolition orders have been served in this year alone (a marked increase from years past), all of which in Area C of the West Bank or in Jerusalem. House demolition, aside from the total brutality of destroying a family's home and security, is in contravention of the peace accords which forbid a changing of the status quo of the West Bank. Eliminating or reducing an Arab presence in areas of the West Bank represents a clear violation of this principle.

LAWE therefore once again calls on the international community to express its condemnation of the brutal practice of destroying homes, and to highlight the fact that these moves violate the letter and spirit of the beleaguered peace accords. Please register your protest by fax to Israeli Prime Minster Benyamin Netanyahu, at fax: (972) (2) 664 838 and the General Commander of the Occupied Territories Uzi Dayan at (972) (2) 305 333.

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.