<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[ei: Israeli colonies expand, Palestinians face home&nbsp;demolitions]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11603.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29"><span class="text14">Report, <em>The Electronic Intifada,</em> 2 November 2010</p>
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<td><span class="text11">A Palestinian home demolished in Beit Hanina, occupied East Jerusalem, July 2009. (Silan Dallal/<a href="http://www.activestills.org/">ActiveStills</a>)</span></td>
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<p><a href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11603.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29"><span class="text14"><span class="content"><br />
Bulldozers, backed by Israeli soldiers and police forces, razed a  Bedouin Palestinian encampment in Isawiya, a village northeast of  Jerusalem on Wednesday, 27 October. Israeli forces destroyed tents and  other structures that were home to six families, according to Ma&#8217;an News  Agency (&#8220;<a href="http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=328051">Israel Razes Bedouin Camp</a>,&#8221; 27 October 2010).</p>
<p>&#8220;Hani al-Eisaway of the Isawiya Land Defense committee said that the Israeli [forces] bulldozed more than 50 <em>dunams</em> (12.5 acres) of land,&#8221; Ma&#8217;an reported. The encampment was close to the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim.</p>
<p>Israel has designated the area where the homes were razed as the &#8220;E1  zone,&#8221; an area in the occupied West Bank and centered in East Jerusalem,  where Maale Adumim and other nearby settlement blocs are being planned  to connect together.</p>
<p>The massive settlement project would incorporate Givat Zeev and Ariel  settlement blocs in the north, Maale Adumim in the center, and Gush  Etzion in the south. The plan would also stretch east, connecting to  settlements in the West Bank&#8217;s Jordan Valley &#8212; which Israel has  designated a closed military zone, making it off-limits to most  Palestinians.</p>
<p>All of Israel&#8217;s settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem  are illegal under international law and violate several United Nations  resolutions. There are currently more than half a million Israelis  living in such illegal settlements.</p>
<p><strong>Demolition orders issued in East Jerusalem</strong></p>
<p>Elsewhere in East Jerusalem, protests broke out in the Old City on 25  October after Israeli police handed out 231 demolition orders to  Palestinians in Silwan, Shufat, Beit Hanina, Isawiya, Wadi al-Dam and  the al-Ras area in Wadi al-Joz, and other neighborhoods across the city,  Bethlehem-based International Middle East Media Center reported (&#8220;<a href="http://www.imemc.org/article/59746">Israel Hands 231 Orders Targeting Arab Homes In Jerusalem</a>,&#8221; 26 October 2010).</p>
<p>Israeli police posted notices on the doors of five homes in the  Palestinian neighborhood of al-Bustan in Silwan. The notices stated that  the houses are &#8220;illegal&#8221; and therefore could face demolition, promting  protests by residents, Ma&#8217;an reported. The head of the local popular  committee, Fakhri Abu Diab, said &#8220;a large force of Israeli border guards  ransacked the area, using homes as vantage points to fire tear-gas  canisters, stun-grenades and rubber bullets &#8216;in all directions'&#8221; when  the protests broke out (&#8220;<a href="http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=327163">&#8220;Israeli ministers back new Jerusalem bill</a>,&#8221; 24 October 2010).</p>
<p>Many Palestinian homes in Silwan have been demolished and more more are  under regular threat as the neighborhood has been a target by the  Israeli-controlled Jerusalem municipality. The Israeli government  intends to destroy dozens of houses and turn the area into a Jewish  historical theme park which would incorporate Jewish-only settlement  housing units. Israeli settlers, police and armed forces frequently  attack Palestinians in Silwan, prompting clashes and regular protests,  while settler takeovers of Palestinian homes continue apace (&#8220;<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11369.shtml">Home demolitions, arrest raids as Israel implements Jerusalem &#8216;Master Plan&#8217;</a>,&#8221; 2 July 2010).</p>
<p>According to Israeli human rights group B&#8217;Tselem, Palestinians in  occupied East Jerusalem are faced with discriminatory housing and  building policies, forcing residents to build homes without obtaining  building permits, thereby designating the homes as &#8220;illegal&#8221; and subject  to demolition. &#8220;The Jerusalem Municipality enforces the building laws  on Palestinians much more stringently than on the Jewish population,  even though the number of violations is much higher in the Jewish  neighborhoods,&#8221; states B&#8217;Tselem (&#8220;<a href="http://www.btselem.org/English/Jerusalem/Discriminating_Policy.asp">East Jerusalem: Policy of discrimination in planning, building and land expropriation</a>&#8220;).</p>
<p>According to an August report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), demolitions  in East Jerusalem have seen a significant spike in 2010. While Israel  continues to demolish more Palestinian homes, &#8220;it continues to subsidize  the Jewish settlements nearby,&#8221; stated Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East  director of HRW (&#8220;<a href="http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/08/19/israel-new-peak-arbitrary-razing-palestinian-homes">Israel: New Peak in Arbitrary Razing of Palestinian Homes</a>,&#8221; 19 August 2010).</p>
<p>The Israeli government and the municipal authorities have allocated  &#8220;only 13 percent of East Jerusalem for Palestinian construction,  compared with 35 percent for Israeli settlements,&#8221; HRW states in its  report. &#8220;While Israel has built 50,000 housing units for Jewish settlers  in East Jerusalem, it has built virtually none for Palestinians,  according to Israeli nongovernmental organizations.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Settlement-building increases four-fold</strong></p>
<p>Israeli daily <em>Haaretz</em> reported on 15 October that 240 building  plans were approved by the Israeli housing ministry for units in Ramot  and Pisgat Zeev, settlements in northeastern Jerusalem (&#8220;<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-approves-tenders-for-238-homes-east-of-green-line-1.319250">Netanyahu approves tenders for 238 homes east of Green Line</a>,&#8221; 15 October 2010).</p>
<p>Illegal settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, including  East Jerusalem has currently increased up to four-fold that of the  estimated rate before the so-called settlement moratorium began in  December 2009, according to Israeli settlement watchdog group Peace Now  (&#8220;<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101025/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_settlements_unfrozen">Settlers confirm work has begun on up to 600 homes</a>,&#8221;  Associated Press, 25 October 2010). In the same report, Peace Now added  that 600 settlement housing units are currently under construction  following the end of the moratorium on 27 September.</p>
<p>Additionally, inside Israel itself, the Palestine News Network reported  that several Palestinian-owned homes were demolished in the city of  Lydd, near Tel Aviv (&#8220;<a href="http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=9010&amp;Itemid=64">Five Demolition Orders Given to Jerusalem Residents, Two Homes Leveled In Lod</a>,&#8221; 26 October 2010).</p>
<p>&#8220;Before demolition, soldiers arrested two family members for trying to  stop the bulldozers,&#8221; PNN reported. &#8220;A state spokesman said the homes  were built without permission.&#8221;</span></p>
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