By Doug Pritchard
Christian Peacemakers Teams (CPT)

Hebron, West Bank  (Feb. 22, 1999)-- CPT regularly visits with families in the Hebron district whose homes are threatened with demolition. The following is the story of one family I visited this week.

Ayoub and Fatima Jabber raised 10 children on their ancestral land in the rich Beqa'a Valley on the eastern outskirts of Hebron. This whole valley is under threat from the Israeli settlements of Kiryat Arba and Harsina which are spreading down from the hills at the northern end of the valley.

When the family's eldest two sons married, the sons moved into their grandparents' house in the oldest part of Hebron. During the "intifada", Palestinians killed a settler near this house. In revenge, the settlers torched the house and soldiers bricked up the remains. So, the sons and their families moved in with their parents in the Beqa'a Valley, and there were then 40 people living in Ayoub’s small house.

In the excitement following the famous handshake on the White House lawn in 1993, they thought there would be no more home demolitions.

They were wrong.

In 1995, Ayoub built two small structures for his sons' families. A month after the families moved into the new homes in 1996, they were issued a demolition order by the Israeli military. They spent US $9,000 contesting the order and were told verbally, it would be withdrawn. A year later, soldiers came and gave the women at home five minutes to clear their belongings from the new houses before they were demolished.

One son's wife had just given birth that morning but the soldiers were unmoved. They kicked her and the newborn out of the house and flattened it.

Israeli settlers continue to harass the family, confiscating more of their land and throwing stones at their windows and doors. Soldiers come by regularly reminding the family not to rebuild. When their cousin's nearby house was demolished two weeks ago, they feared again for their last remaining house.

Yet they have not lost hope. When I gave them a drawing from a child in my church which said, "We are thinking about you," they were touched that youngsters from far away knew and cared about their situation. They showed me the rubble remaining from the demolition of their sons' houses, and then gave me a huge, fragrant yellow tea rose still blooming in their garden nearby in thanks for CPTs continuing friendship and support.

July 3, 1999

Israel's Politics Behind Home Demolitions 

The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and Environment (LAW) has recently released a study explaining the reasons why   Palestinian Muslim and Christian homes are continuously being   destroyed by the Israeli occupation authorities. According to American Muslims for Jerusalem, an NGO based in Washington DC, who forwaded LAWs' release through email to its subscribers, "The pretext used by Israeli occupation authorities in every case is that the homes were constructed without building permits."  

Text of the LAW release:

Israel contends that house demolitions are merely an act of law enforcement. Homes are destroyed, or issued a demolition order, on the pretext of being "illegal", that is they are homes built without permits.  

They were not given permits because they violate existing zoning laws.  This is, for the most part, true. Israel relies on a facade of legality to justify home demolitions and to mask the political motivations behind its policy.

Israel's official position is that the demolition of "illegal" homes "is  based on enforcement of the valid planning and building laws in the area as well as enforcement of the various planning outlines valid in the area".

These valid laws and outlines referred to in this statement by then Defense Minister, Yitzhak Mordechai, are the RJ/5 regional plan for Jerusalem and the southern areas of the West Bank, and the S/15 regional plan for the northern West Bank. Both these plans were based on a 1942 British Mandate proposal prepared for needs and conditions that bear no resemblance to today. The 57 year-old RJ/5 and S/15 plans have never been replaced by more relevant, updated versions that apply to the current trend of population growth and development requirements. Both plans apply only to Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank. The 195 illegal Jewish settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and East Jerusalem violate these very same zoning regulations as well as international law and the stipulations of the Oslo Accords and the Wye River Memorandum.

It is true that some Palestinians build homes without applying for permits. They do so because they have no other option. Years of suppressed development have created overcrowding and poverty. The absence of development areas allocated by RJ/5 and S/15 means any development violates planning regulations. RJ/5 and S/15 make it is virtually impossible for a Palestinian to obtain a building permit in the West Bank and even harder for a Palestinian in East Jerusalem. The cost of a building permit in East Jerusalem can amount to $20,000 and take five years to obtain. The number of permits issued in the West Bank has been at less than one-tenth of the rate required by the natural development and population growth taking place.

A closer look reveals the political motivation behind Israeli adherence to  antiquated zoning regulations and outlines. Almost all the homes that have been demolished, or have received demolition orders, are situated near existing settlements or by-pass roads, in areas that prevent territorial contiguity between Palestinian population centers, neighboring Israeli military installations or located in the path of planned future settlements and by-pass roads. Many times a Palestinian home is demolished for being built too close to a Jewish structure that did not exist when the house was constructed. House demolition works together with other such discriminatory policies to fragment Palestinian population centers, stifle Palestinian development, expel and limit Palestinians from certain areas, especially East Jerusalem, and fortify Israeli presence and control in the Occupied Territories and the city as a means towards achieving the goal of de facto annexation of the land with little, or none, of the Palestinian population present.

Throughout the occupation, Israel has demolished Palestinian homes, forcing Palestinians off their lands to make way for settlement expansion and more  recently, by-pass road construction. Homes have also been demolished as  punishment. 786 homes were destroyed during the first four years of the  Intifada alone as reprisals against those who took part in the resistance.

One hundred and eighty eight [188] countries, including Israel, have  ratified the treaty of the Fourth Geneva Convention and are therefore required, by law, to respect, and ensure respect, for the rights and guarantees. Israel continues to violate the basic human rights of Palestinians without serious consequence or condemnation. Instead, it is extended political and economic aid without human rights conditionality.

This support means more Palestinians continue to lose their family homes  for more illegal settlements and by-pass roads.

July 3, 1999