Ramallah: Human Rights and Democracy Media Center- SHAMS, issued its monthly documentation report for October 2023, about targeting the Palestinian establishments through demolishing, confiscation, or notification with demolishing orders. The Israeli authorities target the various types of Palestinian establishments including residential, religious, tourism, industrial, commercial, educational, and official establishments. The focus is on the residential establishments as part of the racism policies applied by the occupation authorities against Palestinians. In this regard, SHAMS Center issues periodical reports (monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, and annually) documentation reports about this type of violation and other violations committed by the occupying power against Palestinians.
The report is based on field documentation methodology through the team members and researchers of the Center who documented the violations against the Palestinian establishments in the West Bank. The current report covers the period 1- 31/10/ 2023. The collected data is processed and presented in the form of easily read tables against a group of quantitative and qualitative indicators. During October, the Israeli authorities targeted 32 Palestinian establishments through demolishing and notifications with demolishing orders to be targeted in the near future.
The major form of violation was demolishing where 28 establishments were demolished including 7 where the owners were forced to demolish them on their own. Demolishing the establishments by the owners was to avoid paying the high financial fines or being arrested till the fine is paid. The claims given to demolish the establishments are unlicensed buildings. Two of the establishments (within the self- demolishing policy) in Beit Hanina, are owned by a woman and they were demolished under the claim of unlicensed buildings, where each apartment is 125 square meters.
As for the notifications, the Israeli authorities notified the owners of four houses with demolishing orders. These houses are owned by families of Palestinians involved in resisting the occupation and they are demolished within the policy of collective punishment to deter Palestinians from involvement in resisting the occupation.
The first indicator within the report reflects the types of the targeted establishments (demolishing or notification with demolishing orders). During October, there were 20 houses demolished, 1 agricultural room, 2 commercial establishment, 3 livestock barracks/ sheds, 1 warehouse, and 1 horse stable.
The four notified establishments are houses.
The second indicator reflects the geographical distribution of the targeted establishments. The majority was in Jerusalem (15 establishments) while there were 5 establishments in Ramallah.
As for the notifications whether with demolishing orders, stop construction, evacuation, or confiscation as well as other violations that deprive Palestinians of utilizing their establishments, there were 4 notified establishments in Ramallah. Revising the notified establishments helps to predict the future targeting of the Palestinian establishments.
The third indicator reflects the affected people as all the targeted establishments are owned by Palestinians. Tens of Palestinians were affected by the Israeli violations during the month of October 2023 (Unfortunately, there are no precise data about the number of affected persons).
Regarding the claims proposed by the Israeli authorities to legalize their crimes against the Palestinian establishments, 20 demolished establishments (out of 28) were under the claim of unlicensed buildings in areas classified as (C). 5 establishments were demolished within the policy of collective punishment applied against Palestinians involved in resisting the occupation, to deter others from involvement in the national resistance. 2 establishments were demolished under the claim of being built close to a street used solely by the Israeli illegal settlers. 1 Establishment was demolished in order to confiscate the land for settlement expansion.
As for the notified establishments, the owners of 4 houses were notified with demolishing orders within the policy of collective punishment applied against Palestinians involved in resisting the occupation.
Regarding self- demolishing, 7 establishments were demolished within such a policy. The self- demolishing is one of the worst structured forms of oppression where the victims are obligated to participate in the crimes against themselves. The various arms of the Israeli government including the police, courts, and municipality work jointly in applying this racist policy. During the current month, the Israeli authorities obligated the owners of 7 establishments to demolish them on their own. The Israeli authorities in Jerusalem usually obligate the Jerusalemites to cover the cost of demolishing their establishments in case they were demolished by the Israeli authorities. Usually, there is exaggeration in estimating the costs and the owner could be detained till the fine is paid. To avoid these high fines, Jerusalemites prefer to demolish the establishments on their own as the costs could be less than the fines. The houses within the self- demolishing were under the claim of unlicensed buildings.
For the full version of the report, Click here.