Tuesday, June 13, 2023

PA says forced evictions in occupied Jerusalem amount to 'war crime'

June 13, 2023 

Palestinians stage a protest in front of the Supreme Court of Israel after the court's postponed its decision on the objection of the Palestinian families on forced eviction in Sheikh Jarrah Neighborhood in Jerusalem on August 02, 2021
 [Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu Agency]

June 13, 2023 

The Palestinian Authority has condemned the forced eviction by Israel of Palestinian residents in occupied East Jerusalem as a "war crime". The comment was made by the PA Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs after the Israeli occupation authorities ordered a Palestinian family to leave their home in favour of illegal settlers in a case dating back to 1978.

Israeli settlers claim that Jews lived in the house before Israel's creation in 1948, and Jordan later took over the administration of East Jerusalem. They base their claim to ownership of the property on an Israeli law dating back to the 1970s that allows Jews to recover property that allegedly belonged to Jews prior to 1948. According to this law, even those who are not related to the original owners of the property can claim it back.

"The forced eviction of the [Palestinian] family… amounts to a war crime," said the PA ministry. "This is part of attempts by the occupation and settler groups to seize as many Palestinian houses as possible in Jerusalem's Old City and Silwan town near Al-Aqsa Mosque." It is also, added officials, part of the apartheid system imposed by Israel on Palestinians.

The ministry called on the international community to act urgently "to stop all forced evictions, home demolitions, settler colonial activity, attempts to divide Al-Aqsa Mosque, and attacks on [other religious] sanctities."

Dozens of Palestinian families in East Jerusalem face expulsion from their homes in favour of Israeli settlers, even though all Israeli settlers and the settlements in which they live are illegal under international law. Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War, and annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognised by the international community.

READ: 150 Palestine families in Jerusalem face forced eviction by Israel says UN Envoy

Decrease in number of building permits granted to Palestinians by Israel



Israeli security forces gather around a construction site on March 14, 2017
 [Mostafa Alkharouf /Anadolu Agency]

June 13, 2023 

The rate of building licences Israel has granted Palestinians in the occupied territories has decreased by ten per cent during the first quarter of this year, Wafa news agency reported.

A total of 2,530 building licences were issued in the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT) in the first quarter of 2023, which included 1,625 for new buildings, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said today.

The new statistics show a ten per cent decrease in the number of permits granted to Palestinians, compared to the fourth quarter of last year.

Palestinians are rarely granted building permits by the Israeli occupation authorities, especially in occupied East Jerusalem.

Moreover, the data revealed that the number of permits issued during the first quarter of 2023 decreased by 18 per cent compared with the fourth quarter of 2022 and a further 23 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2022, added the PCBS.

It comes after the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported last week that the Israeli occupation authorities have demolished, forced local people to demolish or seized 290 Palestinian-owned structures across the West Bank and Jerusalem in the first quarter of 2023.

"All but 19 of the structures were targeted for lacking building permits, which are nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain," explained OCHA. "As a result, 413 people, including 194 children, were displaced, and the livelihoods or access to services of over 11,000 others were affected."

The building permits are charged at extortionate prices and are unaffordable for most Palestinians, creating a legal loophole for Israel to annex more land and to leave Palestinians in limbo by preventing them from developing infrastructure. Palestinians who do apply for permits often have no response for years or have their applications rejected.

OCHA added that "The number of structures targeted in the first quarter of 2023 has increased by 46 per cent compared with the same period in 2022, which already saw the highest number of demolitions recorded in the West Bank and Jerusalem since 2016."

Israel's widely practised policy of home demolitions targeting entire families are acts of illegal collective punishment and come in direct violation of International Human Rights Law.

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