Ramallah: Human Rights and Democracy Media Center- SHAMS published its monthly documentation report for May 2023, about the Israeli demolishing and notifying of demolishing orders of Palestinian establishments. The targeted establishments include religious, tourism, industrial, commercial, agricultural, official, and educational ones. The focus of the Israeli violations is on the residential houses. In this regard, SHAMS Center issues periodical documentary reports (monthly, semi- annually, and annually) to document the various types of Israeli violations against Palestinians.
The report is based on field documentation methodology through the Center’s team and field researchers. The team worked on documenting the Israeli occupation violations against Palestinian establishments for the period 1-31/5/2023 in the various governorates of the West Bank. The collected data was processed and analyzed to be presented in the form of easily read tables based on a map of quantifying and qualifying indicators. During the current month, the Israeli authorities targeted 164 Palestinian establishments, through demolishing or notifications with demolishing orders to be targeted in the near future.
The major form of violation was through demolishing where 89 establishments were demolished. Among the demolished establishments, there were 6 establishments where the owners were forced to demolish them on their own to avoid paying high financial fines or even being arrested in case they do not do.
As for the notified establishments, the Israeli authorities notified the owners of 75 establishments with demolishing orders. Some owners were notified with orders to stop construction with their establishments or to evict them. The notified establishments included houses, residential rooms, residential barracks, agricultural establishments, commercial establishments, livestock barracks/ sheds, water wells, and stones quarry. Two of the notified establishments are owned by women where the Israeli authorities notified the owners of 7 residential barracks in Um Al- Jimal area in the Northern Jordan Valley, with demolishing orders, including two owned by two women: Fatima Nassar Caabna and Abeer Wad Caabna. The plea given for the demolishing orders is being built in a closed military area.
The first indicator within the report highlighted the types of the targeted establishments (demolished or notified with demolishing orders). The demolished establishments during May included: houses (52), residential rooms (3), residential caravans (1), agricultural rooms (8), water wells (3), car washing garage (1), walls (2), agricultural barracks (2), commercial establishments (4), livestock barracks/ sheds (1), warehouses (1), carpentry (1), agricultural tent (1), stones terraces (2), agricultural pergola (1), water closet (1), Greenhouses (1), house floor (1), house roof (1), and school (1).
The notified establishments included: houses (33), residential caravans (1), residential barracks (14), agricultural rooms (6), commercial establishments (2), water wells (1), agricultural water harvesting pools (1), livestock barracks/ sheds (13), local council facility (1), agricultural barrack (1), warehouse (1), and stones quarry (1).
The third indicator is related to the geographical distribution of the targeted establishments where the majority was in Jerusalem (40) and in the second position, there were (16) in Hebron.
As for the notifications, the majority was in Salfeet (21) and then there were (20) in Nablus. The notifications include orders of demolishing, stop construction, eviction, confiscation, and other violations that deprive Palestinians of utilizing their assets and natural resources. Revising the distribution of the notifications orders would contribute to predict the future map of targeting the Palestinian establishments.
The third indicator is related to the targeted population as all the targeted establishments are owned by Palestinians. The number of affected persons by the Israeli violations during May was 71 persons including men, women, and children.
As for the pleas given by the Israeli authorities to legalize targeting the Palestinian establishments, 80 demolished establishments (out of 89 during the report period), were under the plea of unlicensed building in areas classified as (C). 5 houses were demolished within the policy of collective punishment applied against Palestinians involved in resisting the occupation. 3 houses were demolished during invading the Palestinian localities to persuade wanted persons involved in resisting the occupation. One of the demolished establishments (carpentry) was under the justification of containing iron lathe that could be used to manufacture guns.
Regarding the notifications, the Israeli authorities notified the owners of establishments with demolishing, confiscation, eviction, or stop construction orders. 65 establishments were notified under the plea of unlicensed building in areas classified as (C). The owner of one house was notified with demolishing order as collective punishment against Palestinians involved in resisting the occupation. 2 owners were notified to evict their establishments under the plea that they are owned by Jews. The owners of 7 establishments were notified with demolishing order under the justification of being built in a closed military area.
Concerning the self- demolishing, which is a structured oppression, the owners of 6 establishments were forced to demolish the establishments on their own. Self- demolishing is one of the most criminal policies that the occupation state applies against Palestinians. Jerusalemites, in particular, are pushed to demolish their establishments on their own as in case they do not do, the Israeli authorities will demolish the establishment, but the owner should pay the cost as estimated by the Israeli authorities themselves. There is usually exaggerating in estimating the costs and the owner would be arrested till he/ she pays these costs. Moreover, it is a racist crime where the victim is obligated to participate in the crime against him/ herself. The establishments demolished by the owners themselves were under the plea of unlicensed building.
Within the policy of collective punishment where the houses of those involved in resisting the occupation are demolished to deter others from affiliating to the national resistance, 5 Palestinian houses were demolished in Ramallah, Qalqilia, and Salfeet governorates.
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