Israeli agression against Palestinians continue

[la...@netvision.net.il]

TEN HOMES DEMOLISHED IN JERUSALEM AND THE WEST
BANK

ISRAELI GOVERNMENT ESCALATES ASSAULT AGAINST
PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS

13 August 1997

LAW - The Palestinian Society for the
Protection
of Human Rights and the Environment
PO Box 20873
Jerusalem
Tel: (972) (2) 5812364/5824559
Fax: (972) (2) 5811072
email: la...@netvision.net.il
web address: http://www.birzeit.edu/lawe/

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
nearly 8000 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.