Ramallah: Human Rights and Democracy Media Center- SHAMS, issued its monthly documentation report for June 2024, about the demolishing and notifications with demolishing orders of Palestinian establishments, by the Israeli occupation. The Israeli authorities usually target the various types of Palestinian establishments including tourism, religious, industrial, commercial, educational, or official establishments. However, the focus is always on the residential facilities. In this regard, SHAMS Center issues periodic (monthly, annually, and biannually) documentation reports about this type of violation and other violations committed by Israel (Occupying Power), against Palestinians.
The report is based on field documentation methodology through the research team and the members of SHAMS’ staff who documented the violations against Palestinian establishments for the period (1- 30/6/2024) for the sake of issuing the in-hand report. The geographical scope of the report is in the various governorates of the West Bank, including Jerusalem. The collected data is processed and analyzed to be presented in easily readable tables, against a group of qualitative and quantitative indicators. In June, the Israeli authorities targeted 85 Palestinian establishments by demolishing and notifications with military demolishing orders to be targeted shortly.
The major form of violation was demolition, as 84 establishments were demolished, including 7 within the policy of self-demolishing, where the owners decided to demolish their establishments on their own to avoid being subject to financial fines or being arrested till the fine was paid, in case the demolishing was done by the Israeli authorities.
Regarding the notifications with military orders of demolishing, stopping construction, confiscation, and other violations, the Israeli authorities notified Hebron Municipality with a military order to confiscate the old vegetables central market, which includes the market of second hand and a parking, in the old city of Hebron. Additionally, the Israeli authorities informed the municipality that additional floors will be added to the existing buildings in the market, to expand settlements.
The first indicator within the report is dedicated to the types of the targeted establishments, which included: houses (43), residential barracks (17), residential tents (2), agricultural rooms (9), retaining walls (1), commercial/ industrial establishments (1), livestock barracks/ sheds (3), tourism establishments (5), agricultural caravan (1), parking (1), and agricultural pool (1). The notified establishment was a commercial one.
The second indicator is dedicated to the geographical distribution of the targeted establishments where the majority was in Hebron (30), while in Jericho/ Jordan Vally, 21 establishments were notified with military orders of demolishing.
As for the notified establishments whether with military orders of demolishing, stopping construction, evacuation, and other forms of violations that deprive Palestinians of utilizing their establishments and assets, the Israeli authorities notified with a demolishing order of an establishment in Hebron (commercial). Exploring the geographical distribution of the notification orders will contribute to predicting the future trend of targeting Palestinian establishments.
Concerning the allegations proposed by the occupation to legalize the crimes against Palestinian establishments, the 84 establishments demolished during June, were under the allegation of unlicensed buildings in areas classified as (C).
Regarding the notifications, one establishment was notified with a demolishing order within the policy of expanding the settlements on account of Palestinian land and properties.
As for the self-demolishing, 7 establishments (out of 84 demolished establishments during May), were within this policy. Self-demolishing represents a structured racist policy applied by the Israeli occupation against Jerusalemites where they are forced to participate in the crimes committed against them. The Israeli authorities obligate the owner to cover the cost of the demolishing process in case the Israeli authorities do it. Usually, there is exaggeration in estimating the cost of the process. The owners find no solution but to afford the costs if they do not do so, then the owner is arrested till the fine is paid. Thus, Palestinians in Jerusalem find it less costly to demolish the establishments on their own. The seven demolished houses were under the allegation of unlicensed buildings.