Housing demolitions on the rise as the ICRC stops providing tents in the Jordan Valley
By Hannah B.
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A demolished house in al-Auja (Jordan Valley). Photography (archive) by Gabriel R.
February 15, 2014 uruknet.info
Israeli forces
demolished yet another Palestinian home in Al-Tur, East Jerusalem, on 10
February after the owner failed to get building permission. The owner,
Ali Hassan Al-Juber, was at work at a local school, when Israeli
authorities demolished his home, a single caravan, between 9.15 and 9.30
in the morning. Al-Juber received the demolition order in 2009, but had
since been attempting to retroactively legalize the structure.
"We�ve tried to open a court case in order to approve our home
�I�ve paid over 10,000 shekels but it�s useless � it will never be
approved." Al-Juber has 8 children and is now staying at his neighbour�s
home next door.
"What can we do, this is the situation, not just for us, but for
many Palestinians," said Al-Juber in an interview with the Palestine
Monitor on Monday.
On the same day Mohammed Hasan Sawahra, a resident of the Silwan
area of Jerusalem, was forced out of his house by "dozens of soldiers
and police officers," before his 18 year old home was demolished.
Israeli authorities demolished the home because he did not have the
required Israeli approved construction permit. Sawahra, like Al-Juber,
has filed appeals that are still pending, and has been paying fines to
the City Council.
In a third case on Monday, Israeli soldiers demolished the house of
Mohammaed Hasan Ja�afra in the Jabal al-Mokabber area of Jerusalem
despite the fact that he had paid a 30�000 NIS fine, for building his
house without permission from Israeli authorities.
This brings the number of house demolitions in the occupied West
Bank to 106 since the start of this year, displacing 179 people,
according the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.
25 aid organisations condemn the actions of Israel
In 2013, the number of Palestinian homes demolished by the Israeli authorities reached a five-year high, up 43 percent from 2012.
OCHA reported that the total number of buildings destroyed in 2013 was 390, displacing 590 people, significantly higher than the 279 buildings that were demolished a year earlier. (Here you will find a map of house demolitions Jordan valley).
In response, 25 aid agencies, including Christian Aid, Oxfam International and War Child called for
"an immediate halt to the demolitions of Palestinian homes, and for
Israel to facilitate immediate, full and unimpeded humanitarian access."
Over sixty percent of the West Bank has been designated Area C and
falls under full Israeli military and civil control. In Area C, Israeli
authorities rarely allow Palestinians to construct houses; OCHA reported
that 70% of Palestinian building applications are rejected. Out of
necessity, Palestinians are forced to build without permits and
subsequently face large fines and frequent demolitions.
Conversely, settlers are encouraged to move to the Jordan Valley,
by the Israeli government , which provides extensive benefits to
settlers, including cheap housing. Approximately 11,679 settlers live
among 58,000 Palestinians in the Jordan Valley, where settlers control
86% of the land in the area, according to Oxfam International.
Under international law, settlers are living in the Jordan Valley illegally. As Israeli�s Prime Minister vows to allow settlers to stay in the Jordan Valley, his army is forcibly removing Palestinians who are living there legally.
Red Cross stops providing tents in the Jordan Valley
The Red Cross has made a decision to stop providing tents to
families in the Jordan Valley whose homes have been demolished by
Israeli authorities. The move comes in the form of a protest against the
Israeli military that has been repeatedly confiscating the tents and
stopping them from reaching families who have been evicted from their
homes.
"The ICRC had no alternative but to take this decision," said Jon
Larsen, spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross in
an interview the Palestine Monitor. Israeli authorities routinely
prevented the delivery of the tents since the beginning of last year.
Larsen noted that this was a "difficult decision," and that it will
continue to provide other forms of aid. Furthermore, as soon as Israel
formally states that it will allow tents to be delivered, the ICRC will
continue to pass out tents.
In January alone, the Israeli authorities demolished 27 homes in
the Jordan Valley, leaving 147 people homeless, according to statistics
from B'Tselem.
"Israel has an obligation under international humanitarian law to
provide humanitarian assistance to the people in need in the occupied
territory," explained Larsen. Not only does Israel fail to provide
humanitarian assistance to those in need, after it has demolished the
houses of some of the most vulnerable communities, it also prohibits
international NGOs from adequately providing assistance.
Increasing number of house demolitions
There is serious concern among the international community about
the increasing number of house demolitions, especially in the Jordan
Valley.
"I am deeply concerned about the ongoing displacement and
dispossession of Palestinians," said UN coordinator James Rawley
released in a statement on 31 January 2014.
Many of the families whose homes are demolished are Bedouins or
herder communities that rely on the water resources, climate and land to
graze their livestock. Communities are often displaced more than once,
and often the Israeli military will destroy entire communities in just
one night. Save the Children found that 31% of households in the Jordan Valley have been displaced at least once.
The ICRC highlights that "the destruction and confiscation of
private property in occupied territory is prohibited under international
humanitarian law."
In 2013, 122 structures that were provided by aid organisations
were demolished by Israeli authorities, and 65 items of aid, including
tents were confiscated. The end of the distribution of tents in the
Jordan Valley will have a huge impact on families whose homes have been
destroyed and have nowhere else to go.
Many will be forced to move away from the Jordan Valley to bigger
towns in the West Bank. This is a tactic Israel is using to ensure that
settlers stay in the area, and Palestinians begin to move away from the
territory.
At the end of 2013, Israeli ministers voted to annex the Jordan Valley. The bill, sponsored by Minister of the Knesset Miri Regev, a member of the Lukid party, was supported by eight ministers,
all from the Lukid, Yisrael Beytenu or Bayit Yehudi parties. The bill
called for Israeli sovereignty to be extended to the Jordan Valley, with
Israel annexing a significant part of the West Bank, violating
international law. The Jordan Valley, is a strategic border for Israel; former Israeli ambassador to the UN called the area "the frontline of Israel�s defence."
For Palestinian families living in the Jordan Valley, life isn�t
easy. With the withdrawal of some vital supplies provided by the ICRC,
life will be made even more difficult. Were Israel to annex the Jordan
Valley, it is almost certain that Palestinians would be completely
forced out of the area.
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