Land before Peace: Israel Threatens to Demolish Palestinian Homes in East Jerusalem

A United Nations report, released Friday, has found that up to 60,000 Palestinians are at risk of eviction in East Jerusalem.

The legal pretext for the demolition of up to 1/4 of the Palestinian homes is that they have been built without permits. Behind that claim, however, is the broader issue: up to 1250 new houses are needed each year to accommodate the population growth of Palestinians, but the number of permits issues has remained at about 100 to 150 per year.

Between 2000 and 2008, the Israelis have only razed 75 houses a year, but with the accession of the new Government of Benjamin Netanyahu, there are concerns that either the national or municipal governments might expand the demolitions. The official line of the city's mayor is that he is “committed to addressing the issue of affordable housing throughout the entirety of Jerusalem,” but this should be placed beside the cold numbers of land distribution: only 13 percent of East Jerusalem is zoned by the Israeli authorities for Palestinian construction, while a third has been reserved for Israeli properties (22 percent is zoned for green areas and public infrastructure and 30 percent remains “unplanned").

In March, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned the Israelis that threatened demolitions are “not in keeping with the obligations entered into under the ‘road map'" for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement.

Further information on the status of Palestinians in East Jerusalem can be found at the B'Tselem website.

Comments

[Stacy]

It is interesting how the US only places conditions for peace talks on the PA and Hamas, but not Israel. We should *demand* Israel stop the demolishing of these homes, which only worsens the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.