Beth: The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (based in Geneva) said that Israel has demolished 31 homes and 27 Palestinian facilities since the beginning of this year, while it approved the construction of 4,982 new settlement units during the same period.

 

Documented data showed an acceleration of the Israeli policy of demolishing Palestinian homes and facilities, and the evacuation of Palestinian neighborhoods in exchange for building thousands of settlement units in East Jerusalem during the past four months, in devotion to the policy of racial discrimination aimed at eliminating the Palestinian Arab presence in the city.

The Observatory called on the international community and the United Nations to shoulder their responsibilities in stopping Israeli violations and urgently intervene to stop house demolition plans and change the demographic reality in the city.

 

The Observatory said in a press statement on Sunday (a copy of it was broadcast) that its team documented during the first four months of this year (86) violations related to demolition, destruction, and the consolidation of the settlement presence, carried out by the Israeli forces in East Al-Quds, the largest of which was during the month of March with 31 violations.

 

He pointed out that during these months the Israeli forces demolished 31 homes - half of them in March - 16 of them were self-demolished by their owners to avoid paying fines and exorbitant demolition costs.

 

According to the data based on field monitoring of violations; The Israeli authorities seized three houses and issued six eviction decisions for other homes, while an eviction decision was issued against an entire neighborhood, Wadi al-Rababa neighborhood in Al-Quds.

The demolitions and forced eviction decisions caused the forced evictions and displacement of dozens of Palestinian families, including women and children, who were even chased into the tents they set up for temporary shelter near their destroyed homes.

 

The Observatory indicated that during the preparation of this statement, 28 Palestinian families comprising about 500 residents from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem are threatened with forced displacement, in light of the issuance of decisions by the Israeli courts legalizing the seizure of their homes, which is rare in one of the largest mass displacement operations in recent times. .

Today, Sunday, the Israeli court postponed the issue of evacuating families from Sheikh Jarrah until next Thursday, May 6, to reach an "agreement with Israeli settlers," which implicitly means expelling the Palestinian residents from their homes and handing them over to Israeli settlers.

According to the Observatory, the Israeli authorities have escalated the policy of seizing Palestinian homes in East  Al-Quds in favor of settlement associations, as they seized 8 residential buildings and notified the seizure of 13 other buildings during 2020.

According to United Nations estimates, eviction lawsuits were filed until August 2019 against 199 Palestinian families in East Jerusalem, most of them from settlement organizations, placing 877 people, including 391 children, at risk of displacement.

He emphasized that the forced evictions, along with the systematic destruction of residential homes, have severe physical, social, economic and psychological effects on the affected families, and these crimes may amount to ethnic cleansing.

 

In the context, the destruction of 27 commercial establishments during the first four months of this year was documented, as well as the bulldozing of other properties such as water wells and fences, in addition to the distribution of at least 40 demolition notices within the East at Al-Quds .

 

He also monitored the Israeli forces seizing Palestinian lands and bulldozing them in the interest of implementing streets serving settlers.

 

In an indicator that includes the extent of racial discrimination practiced by the Israeli authorities; In return for this widespread destruction of Palestinian homes and property, the Israeli government approved and began building 4,982 settlement units during this period.

 

Euro-Med Monitor pointed out that at a time when the Israeli authorities place restrictions and obstacles that prevent Palestinians from obtaining building permits; It uses the lack of permission as a pretext to carry out the escalating demolitions, and it is one of the many pretexts for demolition, in exchange for that it gives facilities and provides large budgets for the establishment of hundreds of settlement units.

 

Euro-Med Monitor legal official, Tariq Al-Lewa, said that the Israeli decisions and plans related to the evacuation, demolition and displacement of Palestinians, and the establishment of Jewish buildings and landmarks, reflect the apartheid system that Israel pursues in light of its reliance on discriminatory laws and unfair policies.

 

And he stressed that the demolitions and eviction decisions carried out by the Israeli authorities are a consecration of a systematic policy, as part of their efforts to forcibly displace Palestinians. As part of the attempts to change the demographic character of the occupied city.

 

The Observatory indicated that the destruction and unlawful deportation of civilians in the occupied territories violate the Fourth Geneva Convention, and constitute a war crime under Article 4 of Article 8 of the Statute of the International Criminal Court issued in Rome on July 17, 1998, which stipulated the definition of the crime of aggression. In it: "The widespread destruction and appropriation of property without military necessity to justify it, in violation of the law, and in an absurd manner."