Ramallah: Human Rights and Democracy Media Center “SHAMS” issued its monthly observatory for January 2022 on demolitions, confiscations, seizures, and notifications against Palestinian facilities, whether religious, tourist, industrial, commercial, educational, official or agricultural, with a focus on residential ones by “Israel”, the occupying power, it is reported that the “SHAMS” center periodically issues monthly, semi-annual, and annual specialized observatories on this type of violation and other violations.
The monitoring report was based on a methodology based on field monitoring by the “SHAMS” Center staff and researchers, who monitored and counted the Israeli violations against Palestinian installations during the period 1/1/2022-31/1/2022 in all West Bank governorates to issue this monthly monitor, then work on analyzing, dismantling and outputting the data in the form of tables, according to a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analytical indicators map. During January 2022, the Israeli occupation forces targeted (94) Palestinian-owned facilities, either with demolition, notifications, or confiscation to target these facilities in the future.
The most prominent violations were concentrated in the demolitions of (64) facilities, (16) of which the owners were forced to self-demolish them under the threat of fines and imprisonment, (1) a house owned by a woman. The occupation authorities in the village of Sur Baher forced the family of Shaima Dabash to demolish her house herself, after she had notified her earlier, to avoid paying heavy fines if the occupation authorities carried out the demolition, on the pretext of not having a permit, the house consists of 6 rooms, and it accommodates 11 people.
While the occupation forces confiscated (2) facilities, the occupation forces, near the entrance to Al-Za’ayem town, confiscated a container transporting goods and the equipment inside it, owned by Abdullah Abu Ermilah, in the Rawabi area of Al-Isawiya village in Jerusalem, they confiscated a container transporting goods owned by Saad Mustafa.
As for the notifications, the occupation forces have notified (28) facilities of demolition, suspension of work, or eviction, most of which are residential, in addition to religious and commercial facilities and schools.
The first indicator focused on the distribution of facilities that were targeted for demolition, confiscation, or notifications according to their type, which this month included: dwelling houses (38) facilities, dwelling rooms (2), tent dwellings (5) facilities, barracks dwellings (2) facilities, Agricultural rooms (3) facilities, wells, ponds, and water lines (2) facilities, commercial facilities (6) facilities, barns, and livestock sheds (20) facilities, schools (2), retaining walls and fences (2), mobile caravans (2), laundry Cars (1), warehouse (1), medical facility (1), religious facility (4), tree nursery (1), cemetery (1), water tank (1).
While the second indicator focused on the distribution of the demolished facilities according to the area of the targeting, the peak of the attacks was in the Jerusalem governorate (32) facilities, followed by the Tubas governorate (16) facilities, and then the Hebron governorate (11) facilities.
Given the notifications of demolition, confiscation, halting construction work, and other violations that prevent Palestinians from realizing their right to build, reconstruct and invest in their facilities, the number of notifications reached (28) notifications in different areas.
The notifications indicate trends in the concentration of the upcoming Israeli targeting of Palestinian facilities, with the governorates of Bethlehem and Jerusalem having the highest percentage.
The third indicator focused on the targeted population since these operations targeting Palestinian facilities do not take place in an isolated area from the population, during January, the number of people affected by them reached at least 102 people, including (20) children, and (6) women, according to the information available.
As for the arguments used by “Israel”, the occupying power, in its attempt to legitimize the crime – in January, the facilities that were demolished by the occupying forces under the pretext of building without a permit in Area C were (60) out of (64), and (3) installations under the pretext of establishing settlement projects in their place, seizing the land and confiscating it for the public benefit, and one facility on the pretext of the existence of a road network for the occupation in the area.
As for the notifications, (20) out of (28) establishments were notified, under the pretext of non-licensing and being located in areas (c), (5) notifications that were a collective punishment within the occupation policy that it follows towards the homes of the perpetrators of operations against it and the homes of their families.
The Israeli occupation authorities decided to demolish the home of the Palestinian martyr Fadi Abu Shkhaydam in the Shuafat camp in the city of Jerusalem, who was martyred during the execution of a shooting attack that led to the death of An Israeli settler and seriously wounded three others, and the occupation army notified the family of the prisoner Mahmoud Jaradat from the town of Al-Silah Al-Harithiya, west of Jenin, on 6/1/2022, with the intention of demolishing his house, near the settlement of Homesh, and returned to notify him of the demolition of the house again a week later with a similar order, and notified the demolition of the home of the family of the two prisoners, Ghaith and Omar Ahmed Yassin Jaradat, in the town of Al-Silat Al-Harithiya, west of Jenin, occupation forces arrested the two brothers, Ghaith and Omar, on the 20th of last December,It also accuses them of carrying out the shooting attack near the settlement of “Homish”, which resulted in the death of a settler and the injury of others, and (2) a facility under the pretext that it is illegal.
The occupation authorities have notified the demolition of the two schools of Kisan and “Tahadi 5” schools in the Jubbet Ad-Dib area, east of Bethlehem governorate because they are illegal, the “Tahadi 5” school was demolished five times before it was reconstructed, while the Kisan School opened this academic year, and it was previously notified of a halt to construction, and the students there are subjected to harassment by settlers.
Meanwhile, the occupation forces notified the demolition of the dome of the Rahman Mosque in Beit Safafa in Jerusalem after it was restored, on the pretext that building a golden dome over the mosque in Beit Safafa similar to the Dome of the Rock is an attempt by the Palestinians to show the town as part of a sacred complex in Jerusalem so that the Israelis are also prohibited from entering the town.
The last indicator reviewed the “self-demolition” operations and continued oppression by forcing the Palestinians themselves to demolish their facilities, foremost of which is their homes, under threat of heavy fines.
During January, the number of facilities that the occupation authorities forced their owners to self-demolish was (16) facilities out of (64), a facility, including (10) houses, (5) shops, and (1) a residential room, all in the Jerusalem governorate, was demolished on the pretext of not having a permit.
The occupation authorities, in Wad Qaddoum neighborhood in Silwan town in Jerusalem city, forced Rami Oweida to personally demolish his 60-square-meter house, after notifying him earlier, he demolished a room (attached to his house), where he lives with his mother, wife and five children.
The occupation authorities in the village of Sur Baher forced Shaima Dabash’s family to demolish their house themselves after they notified them earlier, the house consists of 6 rooms and is inhabited by 11 people they as well forced Ibrahim Abu Kaf to personally demolish his house after they notified him earlier, and in Shuafat refugee camp, Jamal Muhammad Ali, to demolish two shops under construction, after notifying him earlier, the citizen, Muhammad Ali, was forced to demolish his house (for the second time in a row), after IOF notified him earlier, and also forced a citizen to demolish his shop (under construction ), and forced the two brothers, Mahmoud and Daoud Shkeirat, to demolish their homes (two residential apartments) with an area of 80 square meters, after they notified them earlier. In the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, Jamal Abu Najma, the family of the citizen Faisal al-Jabari was forced to demolish his house in the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood, the area of the house is 70 meters, and the family of 8 lives in it under the pretext of not having a license.
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