During the month of September 2020, “SHAMS” Center monitored the Israeli occupation forces targeting 114 facilities owned by Palestinians, whether through demolition, confiscation, evictions, or notifications. The most prominent violations centered on demolition operations that affected (68) establishments, while the occupation forces confiscated (4) establishments and seized them, and notified (42) establishments to be demolished, confiscated, or evacuated. Most of these facilities are residential, in addition to agricultural, commercial, recreational and religious facilities. They are distributed according to the following: (49 houses, 10 residential tents, 10 residential barracks, 3 residential rooms, 2 residential caravans, 8 commercial establishments, 6 agricultural rooms, 7 livestock sheds, 7 retaining walls, 2 agricultural barracks, 6 wells and ponds and water lines, 1 wedding hall, 1 poultry farm, 1 religious’ facility, 1 car washroom).
As for the geographical distribution of demolitions according to the regional indicator, the Hebron governorate was the highest in terms of targeting, followed by the Jerusalem governorate. “SHAMS” center monitored the demolitions according to the governorates in which they took place as follows: (Hebron 11, Jerusalem 7, Bethlehem 3, Ramallah 3, Jericho and Al Aghwar Jordan Valley 2, Tubas 2, Nablus 1, Tulkarm 1, Salfit 1).
In addition to the seizure of one facility in Hebron and another one in Ramallah. As for the notifications, whether of demolition, confiscation, eviction, or stopping construction work, and other things that prevent Palestinians from realizing their right to build, rebuild and invest their facilities, which refer to the concentration of upcoming Israeli targets for Palestinian facilities, the notifications were distributed as follows: (Bethlehem 4, Jerusalem 4, Hebron 4, Tubas 2, Nablus 1, Salfit 1).
And since these operations that target Palestinian establishments are not taking place in an isolated area from the population, the number of people affected by them during September reached (92) people, including (17) children and (7) women. Whereas, one of the facilities that were notified of eviction belonged to a woman from Silwan, near occupied Jerusalem.
Given the arguments used by “Israel” the occupying authority in its attempt to legalize the crime in September, the number of facilities that were demolished, confiscated, evacuated, or notified under the pretext of building without a permit in Areas (C) reached 109 establishments. Out of (114) establishments, (4) Establishments were confiscated under the pretext of ownership of the land by Jews or Jewish associations; one establishment was confiscated under the pretext of its proximity to the Apartheid Wall.
By focusing on self-demolition, which represents a type of complex and centralized oppression. Whereby Palestinian citizens, the vast majority of whom are Jerusalemites, are forced to demolish their houses and facilities by their own hands, under threat of imposing heavy fines on them and bearing the cost of demolition double in case they did not do so. The previous approach of the Israeli forces is a striking symmetry of the tools of the Israeli racist system, including courts, local bodies, army and police forces. It constitutes a crime, in which victims are forced to participate in carrying out this crime against themselves. The number of establishments that the occupation authorities forced their owners to self-demolish during September reached (18), compared to (35) establishments during the first half of the whole year. This number constitutes a very high rate and reflects the amount of Israeli indifference to international law and insistence on committing crimes against Palestinian installations. The facilities that their owners were forced to self-demolish were divided into (8) houses, (8) shops, and two animal stockyards. They are all located in occupied Jerusalem, where the occupation authorities have the greatest influence in the West Bank, and the targeting is most intense in it. The Israeli targeting of Palestinian facilities in the city of Jerusalem through self-demolition takes the focal form according to the proximity or distance from the Temple Mount, as field monitoring and numbers confirm that. In this context, (5) houses, (8) shops, and two animal sheds were self-demolished in Jabal Al Mukaber neighborhood. And two houses in the Silwan neighborhood and another one in the old town.