<?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[‘Demolition of Palestinian homes in West Bank’s Area C tripled in&nbsp;2010′]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p class="headline_meta"><abbr class="published" title="2011-01-26">26 January 2011- — Israeli Occupation Archive<br />
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<p>By Amira Hass, Haaretz – 26 Jan 2011<br />
<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/demolition-of-palestinian-homes-in-west-bank-s-area-c-tripled-in-2010-1.339216" target="_blank">www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/demolition-of-palestinian-homes-in-west-bank-s-area-c-tripled-in-2010-1.339216</a><br />
<strong><br />
A <a href="http://www.btselem.org/English/" target="_blank">B’Tselem</a> report reveals that as a result, 472 Palestinians, including 223  minors, lost their homes last year, up from 217 – including 60 minors –  in 2009.</strong></p>
<p>The number of Palestinian residences  demolished by Israel’s Civil  Administration in the part of the West Bank  under full Israeli control  tripled last year compared to 2009, data  complied by B’Tselem shows.</p>
<p>Attorney Shlomo Lecker, who has represented  the Jahalin Bedouin  tribe in the West Bank for years, attributed the  increase in Area C  demolitions directly to the increased pressure  applied over the last  two years by both settlers and a new organization,  Regavim.</p>
<p>The  latter, which sees its aim as preserving state lands in the West  Bank,  has waged both legal and media battles against what it claims is  a  policy of ignoring illegal Palestinian construction.</p>
<p>In 2010, the Civil Administration destroyed  86 residences in Area C,  including tents and shacks, B’Tselem said. That  compares to only 28 in  2009. As a result, 472 Palestinians, including  223 minors, lost their  homes last year, up from 217  (including 60  minors ) in 2009.</p>
<p>The UN’s Office for the Coordination of  Humanitarian Affairs said  there was also a rise in demolitions of  income-producing structures in  Area C, especially cisterns, which are  vital for sheepherding and  agriculture.</p>
<p>Destroyed cisterns affected 14,136  Palestinians last year, up from  764 in 2009, OCHA said. This increases  poverty and dependence on  external aid, and in the long run is thus even  more harmful than the  destruction of residences, the organization  added.</p>
<p>As an example of the increased pressure by  settlers and Regavim,  Lecker cited the demolition orders that the Civil  Administration issued  against an entire Bedouin village near Khan  al-Ahmar, northeast of  Jerusalem, in November 2010.</p>
<p>The village’s approximately 100 residents  say they have been living  there for decades, but had never received a  single demolition order  before.</p>
<p>Lecker believes the orders stemmed directly  from a petition to the  High Court of Justice filed in September by  Regavim and three nearby  settlements, Kfar Adumim, Alon and Nofei Prat.  That petition asked the  court to order the demolition of a school made  of old tires and to  issue demolition orders to 258 Jahalin Bedouin  structures in the area.</p>
<p>Even though it was rejected by the court, he  said, the petition  prompted the Civil Administration to launch a major  campaign to get the  Jahalin out of the area.</p>
<p>Lecker claimed that the Civil  Administration’s inspection unit is  staffed mainly by settlers or people  with sympathetic views. As a  result, he wrote in a High Court petition  that he filed two weeks ago  in an effort to get the demolition orders  canceled, it is influenced by  “political motives” and effectively serves  “as the operational arm of  the Yesha Council of settlements with regard  to forbidding Palestinian  construction in Area C.”</p>
<p>The petition also noted that while master  plans enabling  construction exist for many of the settlements, no such  plans exist for  Palestinians in Area C.</p>
<p>On January 12, the Civil Administration  destroyed 17 structures in  the Bedouin village of Dakeika, south of the  Hebron Hills. This  happened even though the residents, at the High  Court’s suggestion,  were in the process of preparing a master plan for  the village, and the  court had promised to reconsider their petition  against the demolition  orders once the master plan was completed.</p>
<p>“The reporter’ claims regarding an  enforcement policy derived from  direct pressure by the Regavim  organization and the city of Maaleh  Adumim, or from any other external  consideration is completely  unfounded,” the Coordinator of Government  Activity in the Territories  said in a statement.</p>
<p>The statement also said that the Civil  Administration was supporting  the project of transferring West Bank  Bedouins to permanent  settlements. The spokesman did not reply to  Haaretz queries regarding  the demolition orders handed out to the tribe  at Khan al-Ahmar.</p>
<p class="post_tags">Tagged as: 						<a rel="tag" href="http://www.israeli-occupation.org/tag/house-demolitions/">house demolitions</a>,  						<a rel="tag" href="http://www.israeli-occupation.org/tag/international-law/">International-Law</a>,  						<a rel="tag" href="http://www.israeli-occupation.org/tag/land/">land</a>,  						<a rel="tag" href="http://www.israeli-occupation.org/tag/permanent-occupation/">permanent-occupation</a>,  						<a rel="tag" href="http://www.israeli-occupation.org/tag/west-bank/">West-Bank</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.israeli-occupation.org/2011-01-26/demolition-of-palestinian-homes-in-west-banks-area-c-tripled-in-2010/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IsraeliOccupationArchive+%28Israeli+Occupation+Archive%29">‘Demolition of Palestinian homes in West Bank’s Area C tripled in 2010′ — Israeli Occupation Archive</a>.</p>
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