UN: Israel to demolish 13,000 Palestinian buildings

Israel is to demolish 13,000 Palestinian buildings, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs occupied Palestinian territory (OCHA) reported yesterday.

“Official  data  released  by  the  Israeli  authorities indicate  that  over  11,000  demolition  orders – affecting  an  estimated  13,000  Palestinian-owned structures, including homes – are currently ‘outstanding’ in Area C of the West Bank,” the report said.

The report, which is titled “Under Threat”, included detailed information which it said caused Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to live in state of “uncertainty”.

Based on the Interim Oslo Agreement signed between the PLO and Israel in 1995, the occupied West Bank is divided into three areas: A, B and C. Area A represents 18 per cent of the whole area of the West Bank and it is under Palestinian Authority (PA) administrative and security control.

Area B, which represents 21 per cent of the total area of the West Bank, is under PA administrative control and Israeli security control.

Area C, which is under full Israeli security and administrative control, represents 61 per cent of the West Bank. Under the agreement it would be transferred to the PA by the end of 1998. Some 300,000 Palestinians reside inside the area in 532 residential gathering.

It is almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits in area C because of the complicated Israeli measures.

“The planning and zoning regime applied by the Israeli authorities, including the ways in which public land is allocated, makes it virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits in most of area C,” the UN report said.

According to the report, the Israeli Civil Administration data revealed that Palestinians submitted 2,020 requests for building permits in area C between 2010 and 2014 and only 33 – 1.5 per cent – were approved.