13 August 1997

Today ten homes were demolished in Jerusalem and the West Bank, in a stunning attack on Palestinian homes during the visit of US peace envoy Dennis Ross. The homes were demolished for having no permit, although both the Israeli military authorities of the West Bank and the Jerusalem municipality only very rarely issue building permits to Palestinian residents. Therefore Palestinian residents must build illegally to alleviate extreme overcrowding, particularly in refugee camps. Because they cannot take advantage of the low mortgage rates or the low-interest loans available to the Jewish settlements of the West bank and Jerusalem, they must invest their life savings into their homes, adding to the economic as well as human devastation caused by these demolitions. These demolitions follow the construction of thousands of new units in the Jewish-only settlements of Jerusalem and the West Bank.

In Jerusalem: Five homes were demolished in Shu’fat Refugee Camp. The homes of Sobhi Ali Al Baya, Mazen al Mimi, Kamal Abdel Ghani al Mimi and Ibrahim al Salayma were all in various stages of completion. The home of Talal Hussein Arar housed 9 people, and was destroyed as well.

Two other homes were slated for demolition today in the camp, but were postponed until their hearing on their applications for building permits. One home belongs to Asma Adnan Hoshya, who lives in her home with her 8 children. One of her children is very ill, and cannot be moved. The other home belongs to Ahud al Bashiti. Both have hearing dates for their building permit applications on 19 November. In addition, the Jerusalem municipality decided to postpone the demolition of the home of Omar Faqieh, as his nephew was injured in the recent bombings in Jerusalem.

All 8 of these houses lie on the very edge of Shu’fat Refugee Camp, which faces the Jewish settlement of Pisgat Zeev. This illegal settlement, which houses 30,000 Jewish settlers, has recently enjoyed a building boom onto the lands of neighboring Shu’fat and Anata villages, and construction in this settlement is subsidized by the Jerusalem municipality. The Shu’fat Refugee Camp is the sole refuge for more than 10,000 Palestinian Jerusalemites and their children who were expelled from their homes in 1948. The comparison between this beautiful housing area and the refugee camp reveals the appalling neglect resulting from the discriminatory policies of the Israeli Jerusalem Municipality. In Anata, two homes also were destroyed. In the West Bank: Two homes were destroyed in Furdeis village near Bethlehem, and one home was demolished in Hussan village, near the settlement of Betar Illit.

In the past week, the Israeli government demolished 32 Palestinian homes. This large-scale attack on Palestinian homes comes in the wake of the US government’s demands on President Arafat to crack down harder on his own people. These demolitions demonstrate once again Israeli PM Netanyahu’s total contempt for his Palestinian “partners”, for the American mediator, and for the negotiations as a whole.

LAW - 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. LAW is also an affiliate member of the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights.