Ramallah: Human Rights and Democracy Media Center- SHAMS, issued its monthly documentation report for July 2024, about the Israeli violations against Palestinian establishments, through demolishing, confiscation, and military orders of demolishing. The Israeli authorities usually target the various types of Palestinian establishments including, religious, tourism, agricultural, and official ones. The focus is on residential establishments. In this regard, SHAMS Center issues periodical documentation reports (monthly, quarterly, bi-annual, and annual) about this type of violation and other violations committed by Israel (Occupying Power) against Palestinians.
The report is developed based on a field documentation methodology by SHAMS team and field researchers who documented the violations against the Palestinian establishments for the period (1-31/7/2024), to prepare the current report. The geographical scope of the report is in the various governorates of the West Bank. The collected data was analyzed and processed to be presented in the form of readable tables against a group of qualitative and quantitative indicators. During the current month, the Israeli authorities targeted 137 Palestinian establishments by demolishing, confiscation, or notifying with demolishing orders to be targeted shortly.
The major form of violation was demolishing, where 127 establishments were demolished, including 17 establishments within the policy of self-demolishing, as the owners were forced to demolish their establishments of their own to avoid exaggerated financial fines or being detained till the fine was paid, in case the demolishing was done by the Israeli authorities. Two of those houses are owned by women where, in Jabal Al Mukabber- Jerusalem, the Israeli authorities obligated a Jerusalemite woman named Aida Al Qanbar to demolish her house on her own. She was notified earlier with a demolishing order and she decided to demolish the house on her own to avoid the high financial penalty or being detained till the fine is paid, in case she does not demolish it by herself. In Ain Al Louza- Silwan, the Israeli authorities obligated another Jerusalemite woman, named Latifa Al Whaidi, to demolish her house (100 square meters) on her own as she was notified earlier with a demolishing order and similar to other Jerusalemites, she decided to demolish the house on her own to avoid paying the exaggerated financial penalty, or being detained till the fine is paid, in case the Israeli authorities demolish the house.
Concerning the notifications, the Israeli authorities notified the owners of 9 establishments with demolishing orders, these establishments include houses, commercial establishments, and a Seismic Observatory.
As for the confiscations, the Israeli settlers, under the full protection of the Israeli army, confiscated a house in Baten Al Hawa Area- Silwan- Jerusalem.
The first indicator within the report is related to the types of targeted establishments (demolishing, notifications with demolishing orders, or confiscation). The demolished establishments during July included: houses (59), residential barracks (5), residential tents (1), residential rooms (3), agricultural rooms (7), water wells (5), retaining walls (8), car wash garages (3), industrial/ commercial establishments (10), livestock barracks/ sheds (10), tourism establishments (4), animal farms (2), car parking (2), greenhouses (2), agricultural barrack (1), horses stable (1), gas station (1), school (1), memorial (1), and a hall for social occasions.
The notified establishments were 7 houses, a car wash garage, and a seismic observatory unit.
The confiscated establishment was a house.
The second indicator is dedicated to the geographical distribution of the targeted establishments. The majority of the targeted establishments were in Jerusalem (52), while there were (24) in Hebron.
As for the notifications whether demolishing, stopping construction, evacuation, confiscation, or other types of violations that deprive Palestinians of utilizing their properties and assets, the Israeli authorities notified the owners of 9 establishments in Jerusalem, with demolishing orders. Surveying the distributed notifications will help predict the future trend of targeting Palestinian establishments.
The Israeli settlers confiscated a house in Silwan- Jerusalem.
As for the allegations proposed by the occupation to legalize the crimes against Palestinian establishments, during July, the Israeli authorities demolished (123) establishments out of (127), under the claim of unlicensed buildings in areas classified as (C). 4 establishments were demolished within the policy of collective punishment applied against Palestinians involved in resisting the occupation and to deter others from involvement in the resistance.
As for the notifications, the Israeli authorities notified the owners of 9 establishments with demolishing orders, under the allegation of unlicensed buildings in areas classified as (C).
The Israeli settlers, under the protection of the Israeli army, confiscated a house in Baten Al Hawa area- Silwan- Jerusalem under the allegation that it had been the property of Jews since 1881.
Within the policy of demolishing houses as a collective punishment against Palestinians involved in resisting the occupation and to deter others from involvement in the resistance, the Israeli authorities demolished 3 houses in Nablus, Jerusalem, and Ramallah, in addition to demolishing a memorial in Bethlehem.
As for the self-demolishing, 17 establishments (out of 127 demolished establishments during July), 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.
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