Amnesty Claims House Demolitions Have Doubled In 2011

Wednesday December 14, 2011 09:31 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Amnesty International, along with 19 other human rights organizations, reported that the rate of Palestinian homes demolished by Israel 2011 is double the rate of 2010, with over 1,000 Palestinians being displaced this year.

Home Demolishion - Press TV

Amnesty warned that there is a serious escalation in the construction and expansion of settlements, in addition to a similar increase in attacks carried out by Jewish settlers against the Palestinians, their lands and their property.

The groups urged the International Quartet Committee to increase its pressure on Tel Aviv in order to halt its settlement activities and the destruction of Palestinian homes, describing the Israeli policies as a violation of International Law.

(Quartet members are the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia).

Middle East Director of Human Rights Watch, Leah Whitson, stated that the Quartet Committee must properly address the Israeli settlement activities and the demolition of homes as “violations of International Law that must be halted.”

The group reported that UN figures indicate that the number of Palestinian homes, wells and structures demolished by Israel in 2011 stands at around 500, an issue that led to the displacement of more than 1,000 Palestinians.

In addition, the number of attacks carried out by the settlers against the Palestinians in 2011 witnessed a 50% increase compared to attacks carried out in 2010, and is a 160% increase since 2009.

Amnesty further stated that over the past twelve month Israel has approved the construction of 4,000 units for Jewish settlers in occupied East Jerusalem.

Israel also approved the construction of forty units and a farm in all illegal settlement near the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said that he is extremely concerned over the recent Israeli approval of hundreds of units.

Last year, a 10-month settlement freeze expired, and Israel started its settlement activities on a massive scale, the Palestinian Authority had to quit direct peace talks with Tel Aviv due to its ongoing assaults, home demolitions and settlement activities, especially in and around occupied East Jerusalem.

http://www.imemc.org/article/62666

Record number of Palestinians displaced by demolitions as Quartet continues to talk

 13 December 2011

There has been a sharp rise in demolitions of Palestinian homes in 2011

© Amnesty International

"Israel’s escalating violations show the fundamental failure of the Quartet’s approach."

Amnesty International's Phillip Luther 

Tue, 13/12/2011

Israeli authorities have stepped up unlawful demolitions in the West Bank including East Jerusalem over the past year, displacing a record number of Palestinian families from their homes, an international coalition of 20 leading aid agencies and human rights groups said today.

The statement comes as the Middle East Quartet meets in Jerusalem in its latest effort to revive peace talks.

The sharp rise in demolitions in 2011 has been accompanied by accelerated expansion of Israeli settlements and an escalation of violence perpetrated by settlers, the groups said.

The humanitarian and human rights groups, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Oxfam International, are calling for the Quartet to hold all parties to the conflict to their international law obligations. The Quartet must, therefore, press the Israeli government to immediately reverse its settlement policies and freeze all demolitions that violate international law.

“The increasing rate of settlement expansion and house demolitions is pushing Palestinians to the brink, destroying their livelihoods and prospects for a just and durable peace. There is a growing disconnect between the Quartet talks and the situation on the ground. The Quartet needs to radically revise its approach and show that it can make a real difference to the lives of Palestinians and Israelis.” said Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director, Oxfam International.

The evidence of rapidly deteriorating situation on the ground includes:

• Doubling the number of people displaced by demolitions: Since the beginning of the year more than 500 Palestinian homes, wells, rainwater harvesting cisterns, and other essential structures have been destroyed in the West Bank including East Jerusalem, displacing more than 1,000 Palestinians, UN figures show. This is more than double the number of people displaced over the same period in 2010, and the highest figure since at least 2005. More than half of those displaced have been children for whom the loss of their home is particularly devastating.
• Accelerating settlement expansion: Plans for around 4,000 new settler housing units have been approved in East Jerusalem over the past 12 months - the highest number since at least 2006, according to Peace Now. In November, moreover, Israel announced plans to speed up construction of 2,000 new units in the West Bank including East Jerusalem.
• Sharp increase in settler violence: violent attacks by settlers against Palestinians have escalated by over 50% in 2011 compared to 2010, and by over 160% compared to 2009, the UN reports. 2011 has seen by far the most settler violence since at least 2005. Settlers have also destroyed or damaged nearly 10,000 Palestinian olive and other trees during this year, undermining the livelihoods of hundreds of families. The perpetrators act with virtual impunity, with over 90% of complaints of settler violence closed by the Israeli police without indictment in 2005-2010.
• Impending threat of forced displacement of Bedouin: Up to 2,300 Bedouin living in the Jerusalem periphery could be forcibly and unlawfully relocated if Israeli authorities follow through with their reported plans in 2012, which would destroy their livelihoods and threaten their traditional way of life. Rural communities in the Jordan Valley are also facing the prospect of further demolitions as settlements continue to expand.

“The Quartet should call ongoing settlement expansion and house demolitions what they are: violations of international humanitarian law that Israel should stop,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

“Israel’s escalating violations show the fundamental failure of the Quartet’s approach. It’s time for the Quartet to understand that they cannot contribute to achieving a just and durable solution to the conflict without first ensuring respect for international law,” said Phillip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Interim Programme Director, Amnesty International.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/record-number-palestinians-displaced-demolitions-quartet-continues-talk-2011-12-13