Thousands of Palestinian homes face demolition as Israel refuses building
permits
MIDDLE EAST MONITOR
09/19/2020
By Belal Yasin | -
( Middle East Monitor ) - In the early 1990s, Wael Al-Tahan submitted an
application to the Israeli authorities for a permit to build a house on his
land at Jabal Mukaber in occupied Jerusalem. The application was refused
with no reason given. After many such attempts, Al-Tahan had no option but
to build his house without a permit. At that stage the Israeli-led
municipality started proceedings against him and issued a demolition order.
Despite trying to get a building permit many times, Al-Tahan was fined
$30,000 and, on 11 August, had to watch as the authorities demolished his
five-bedroom house, in which 25 members of his family lived, most of them
children.
This demolition was not an exception. Israel's policy of rejecting building
permit applications from Palestinians started many years ago, and has led to
the displacement of hundreds of Palestinian families following the
demolition of their homes.
In 2019 alone, the Israelis demolished more than 140 houses in occupied
Jerusalem. From then until mid-August this year, more than 100 more
residential and commercial facilities were demolished in the city.
Palestinians in Jerusalem are subjected to many racist practices when
attempting to get building permits. The bureaucratic administrative
procedures can last up to eight years, and the cost of obtaining the
necessary documents could be as high as $60,000. Moreover, the authorities
are unwilling to establish structural plans for Palestinian neighbourhoods.
As a result, some Palestinians have to build their houses without getting a
permit, only to get demolition orders later on.
Israeli settlers, however, have no such problems. According to data from
Peace Now, 48,000 building permits were issued by the authorities in favour
of settlers from 1991 to 2018, whereas Palestinians were granted only 9,350
during the same period, less than a third of the applications made.
In this context, the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the
Occupied Territories has documented Israel's efforts to hinder any
Palestinian attempts to build homes, while the occupation authorities
simultaneously allocate large funds to develop and expand the infrastructure
of Jewish neighbourhoods and the illegal settlement blocs in Greater
Jerusalem.
"Unauthorised construction in Muslim, Druze, Christian and Circassian
neighbourhoods is not groundless," explained Knesset member Nitzan Horowitz,
"but rather a result of long years of facing hardship to obtain housing and
planning permission due to discriminatory practices against non-Jewish
citizens, and the authorities' failed strategies."
Denying thousands of requests made by Palestinians to obtain building
permits, and implementing arbitrary measures that put their houses at risk
of demolition, is a violation of international law, including Article I of
the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime
of Apartheid (ICSPCA). This confirms that apartheid is a crime against
humanity and that inhuman acts resulting from the policies and practices of
apartheid and similar policies and practices of racial segregation and
discrimination, as defined in article II of the Convention, violate the
principles of international law, in particular the purposes and principles
of the Charter of the United Nations, and constitute a serious threat to
international peace and security.
Israel's policies and practices against the Palestinian presence in
Jerusalem are a flagrant violation of human rights laws and conventions. A
legal campaign is needed urgently to condemn Israel's occupation and stop
its discriminatory policies.
