Haaretz Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Israel steps up pace of Bedouin home demolitions
The targeted area, east of Jerusalem, is slated for an expansion of the settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim.
By Amira Hass
The
Civil Administration in the West Bank has stepped up demolitions of
Bedouin buildings in the E-1 area east of Jerusalem since April. The
area is slated for an expansion of the settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim.
The
number of such demolitions in the first eight months of 2014 was higher
than in any comparable period in the last five years, as was the number
of people who lost their homes as a result, according to an analysis by
the Association of International Development Agencies of data compiled
by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs. Although demolitions were carried out in only four of these
eight months (March, April, May and August), more buildings were razed
in the E-1 area in those months (35) than in all of 2013 (21). The
number of people who lost their homes as a result rose to 156, from 57.
The
disproportionate increase in the number of people who were made
homeless as a result of the demolitions in the first eight months of
2014 relative to the number of buildings that were razed indicates that a
larger proportion of the structures that were destroyed this year were
residential. That, as opposed to being used for livestock or other
purposes.
In
Area C as a whole — portions of the West Bank under exclusive Israeli
control, according to the Oslo Accords – the Civil Administration razed
346 buildings in the eight-month period, leaving 668 Palestinians
homeless. In 2013 as a whole, 565 demolitions left 805 Palestinians
homeless.
The
only demolitions so far this month occurred on September 8, when the
Civil Administration razed three homes and a sheep pen in Khan al-Ahmar,
a Bedouin encampment near Ma’aleh Adumim. A family of 14, including
eight children, lived in the three homes.
It
was the fourth time in three years that the family’s homes were
destroyed, on the grounds that they were within an Israel Defense Forces
firing zone. The family, like most Bedouin in the same situation, would
rather risk repeated demolitions than leave the area where they live,
supporting themselves by raising sheep and goats and doing odd jobs in
nearby communities.
The Palestinian news agency Ma’an also reported that on Thursday,
Civil Administration inspectors accompanied by dozens of soldiers, a
bulldozer and a helicopter photographed all the buildings in several
Bedouin communities near Azariyeh and Abu Dis and destroyed some fences.
Bedouin
representatives said they think demolitions have escalated recently
because the Civil Administration’s plan to resettle them in a new,
permanent town north of Jericho is advancing and the agency hopes to
pressure them into agreeing to the move. The plan calls for removing
thousands of Bedouin from 23 communities east of Jerusalem and
resettling them in the new town, Talet Nueima, together with members of
other Bedouin tribes. Their removal would allow for the expansion of
several Jewish settlements.
The
Civil Administration refuses to give the Bedouin building permits for
their existing communities or connect these communities to
infrastructure, even though they have lived in this area since the
1950s. Meanwhile, their mobility has grown more and more restricted due
to the construction of settlements and roads and the declaration of
certain areas as firing zones or nature reserves.
Over
the past 20 years, the Bedouin have repeatedly petitioned the High
Court of Justice against demolitions. While the court has never ruled on
their claim that the demolitions are illegal in principle, it has
repeatedly canceled them on the grounds that the Bedouin have nowhere
else to live. The construction of Talet Nueima, even if the Bedouin have
already announced their opposition to it, will let the authorities
claim they do have somewhere else to live.
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