Israel is
systematically demolishing Palestinian homes without concern or
respect for the hardship to the families and the local community or
the historic, religious, archaeological or cultural significance of
the buildings. According to the United Nations, Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, during 2014, Israeli
authorities issued a total of 911 demolition orders against
Palestinian structures on the grounds of lack of building permits.
This is only a slight decline of the demolitions in 2013. Demolition
orders can target more than one structure.
Since Israel retains
exclusive control over planning and zoning, they have refused to
grant building permits to Palestinians and then demolish targeted structures
built without permits and any existing structure they want to
demolish without a permit they issued. Basically Israel has set up a
system that allows demolition of any building they want irrespective
of its cultural, religious, archaeological or historic value and
irrespective of the hardship it causes to families and the
communities.
According to several
sources, Israel also uses home demolitions as a collective punishment
for Palestinians that are arrested or even just accused of a crime.
Once a Palestinian has been arrested or detained, these individuals
homes, their parents homes or other relatives homes are often times
scheduled for demolition as a collective punishment.
Last year, 1,215
Palestinians were displaced because of home demolition, forced
evictions and take over of property by Israeli settlers. All of this
is in violation of International Law, yet Israel does not seem to care.
Meta Peace Team
members visited over a dozen demolitions or scheduled demolition sites
in Far'un. Several demolished homes were brand new homes that
Palestinians spent many years saving to build for their families and
the Israeli authorities demolished them displacing the families and
in a few cases causing family members to die of heart attack or
depression.
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| After this new Palestinian home was demolished, father dies of heart attack |
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| Another new home built for a family of 8, Israel demolished |
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