22 may 2015
Theodor Meron, a former Israeli Foreign Ministry legal adviser, warned the government in 1968 that demolishing Palestinian homes was a violation of international humanitarian laws
A senior Israeli government official warned as early as in 1968 that punitive demolitions and deportations of Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) constitute violations of international humanitarian law. Theodor Meron, then Israeli Foreign Ministry legal adviser, sent his opinion to the Israeli prime minister's office in a memo marked "Top Secret". The memo was discovered and made public last week by an organisation investigating the archives for relevant material on human rights.
According to the memo, Meron – like almost all contemporary jurists and legal scholars – said the punitive home demolitions and deportations violated the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians in war. Any other argument was just unsubstantiated hasbara.
According to author Gershom Gorenberg, writing in Haaretz: "The discovery of Meron's memo on demolitions and deportations is additional evidence that the regime under which the West Bank is governed began in deception and has been maintained by self-deception – by the government, by the hasbara machine and sometimes by our Supreme Court."
In 2006, another memo of Meron's was revealed, in which, just three months after Israel's rule over the OPT began in 1967, he stated that "civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention." The Israeli government at the time, and every one since, ignored this consensus position.
Meron is currently president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Israel knew all along that settlements, home demolitions were illegal
New evidence shows government's adviser on international law said in 1968 that demolishing terror suspects' homes violates Geneva Convention.
It was March 1968. Yaakov Herzog, director-general of the Prime Minister's Office, received a memo marked "Top Secret" from the Foreign Ministry’s legal adviser, Theodor Meron. As the government's authority on international law, Meron was responding to questions put to him about the legality of demolishing the homes of terror suspects in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and of deporting residents on security grounds.
His answer: Both measures violated the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians in war. The government's justifications of the measures – that they were permitted under British emergency regulations still in force, or that the West Bank wasn't occupied territory – might have value for hasbara, public diplomacy, but were legally unconvincing.
The legal adviser's stance in 1968 is important today precisely because it is unexceptional. It's the view of nearly all scholars of international law, including prominent Israeli experts. The memo shows that from the very start of the occupation, central figures in the Israeli government knew that deportations and demolitions violated Israel's international commitments, and not just in the eyes of outside critics.
Yet both measures have been used ever since. If any later Israeli leaders saw Meron's opinion, they ignored it, and so misled the public and Israel's supporters abroad about the legality of their policies. If later leaders did not see the document, they nonetheless engaged in deliberate naivete, convincing themselves of the hasbara line in the face of the evidence.
Meron's memo was discovered in Yaakov Herzog's office files in the State Archives by Akevot, a new organization that has taken on the important task of searching archives for material shedding light on human rights issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Herzog, by the way, was the uncle of the current Zionist Union leader, Isaac Herzog.) Last week, it made the document public. (You can see the original Hebrew document here [PDF]; English translation here [PDF].)
The memo is not the first evidence of Meron's warnings, though. In 2006, I published another of his legal opinions, which I found in the late Prime Minister Levi Eshkol's declassified office files. Written in mid-September of 1967, about three months after the Six-Day War, it responds to a query from Eshkol's bureau about the legality of establishing settlements in the West Bank and Golan Heights.
He answered, "My conclusion is that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention."
Central figures in Israel’s government at the time – Eshkol, Foreign Minister Abba Eban, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and Justice Minister Yaakov Shimshon Shapira – all received that legal advice. A week and a half later, the cabinet approved settlement in the West Bank for the first time. Ex post facto, a few scholars have manufactured the justifications for settlement that are regularly cited for hasbara purposes. But their legal gymnastics have never convinced anyone who was not trying hard to be convinced.
About Theodor Meron: Born in Poland, he spent his early teens in a Nazi labor camp. After he arrived in Palestine, he made up for his lost school years, then completed a law degree at Hebrew University, a doctorate at Harvard and a fellowship at Cambridge, both in international law.
Then he joined Israel's foreign service. A decade after writing the legal opinions described here, he returned to academia to teach international law at New York University. In 2001, as a U.S. citizen, he was appointed a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Today he is president of that court and one of the world's leading authorities on humanitarian law in war.
After his 1967 opinion on settlement became public, he told The Independent that he "would have given the same opinion today." The reason is clear from his 1968 opinion on demolitions, in which he dismissed "narrow, literal" interpretations of the Geneva Convention. The convention, he said, "is a humanitarian convention that aims to protect the rights of a civilian population."
Put differently, the convention can't be interpreted by splitting hairs and forgetting real human beings. Its point isn't to protect states. It is to protect people from a state whose army has conquered the land where they live and before whose power they are otherwise defenseless. If it is ignored, their basic rights will be trampled.
The discovery of Meron's memo on demolitions and deportations is additional evidence that the regime under which the West Bank is governed began in deception and has been maintained by self-deception – by the government, by the hasbara machine and sometimes by our Supreme Court.
That memo has already been submitted to Israel’s High Court of Justice by the Center for the Defence of the Individual and other human rights groups, in support of their request that an expanded panel of justices hear their challenge to the policy of demolitions. The court should accept that request, which gives it a chance to end the deception and put a stop to an unjust policy – one that should have ceased the day the memo reached the Prime Minister's Office 37 years ago.
Gershom Gorenberg is the author of "The Unmaking of Israel" and "The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977." Follow him on Twitter: @GershomG.
A senior Israeli government official warned as early as in 1968 that punitive demolitions and deportations of Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) constitute violations of international humanitarian law. Theodor Meron, then Israeli Foreign Ministry legal adviser, sent his opinion to the Israeli prime minister's office in a memo marked "Top Secret". The memo was discovered and made public last week by an organisation investigating the archives for relevant material on human rights.
According to the memo, Meron – like almost all contemporary jurists and legal scholars – said the punitive home demolitions and deportations violated the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians in war. Any other argument was just unsubstantiated hasbara.
According to author Gershom Gorenberg, writing in Haaretz: "The discovery of Meron's memo on demolitions and deportations is additional evidence that the regime under which the West Bank is governed began in deception and has been maintained by self-deception – by the government, by the hasbara machine and sometimes by our Supreme Court."
In 2006, another memo of Meron's was revealed, in which, just three months after Israel's rule over the OPT began in 1967, he stated that "civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention." The Israeli government at the time, and every one since, ignored this consensus position.
Meron is currently president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Israel knew all along that settlements, home demolitions were illegal
New evidence shows government's adviser on international law said in 1968 that demolishing terror suspects' homes violates Geneva Convention.
It was March 1968. Yaakov Herzog, director-general of the Prime Minister's Office, received a memo marked "Top Secret" from the Foreign Ministry’s legal adviser, Theodor Meron. As the government's authority on international law, Meron was responding to questions put to him about the legality of demolishing the homes of terror suspects in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and of deporting residents on security grounds.
His answer: Both measures violated the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians in war. The government's justifications of the measures – that they were permitted under British emergency regulations still in force, or that the West Bank wasn't occupied territory – might have value for hasbara, public diplomacy, but were legally unconvincing.
The legal adviser's stance in 1968 is important today precisely because it is unexceptional. It's the view of nearly all scholars of international law, including prominent Israeli experts. The memo shows that from the very start of the occupation, central figures in the Israeli government knew that deportations and demolitions violated Israel's international commitments, and not just in the eyes of outside critics.
Yet both measures have been used ever since. If any later Israeli leaders saw Meron's opinion, they ignored it, and so misled the public and Israel's supporters abroad about the legality of their policies. If later leaders did not see the document, they nonetheless engaged in deliberate naivete, convincing themselves of the hasbara line in the face of the evidence.
Meron's memo was discovered in Yaakov Herzog's office files in the State Archives by Akevot, a new organization that has taken on the important task of searching archives for material shedding light on human rights issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Herzog, by the way, was the uncle of the current Zionist Union leader, Isaac Herzog.) Last week, it made the document public. (You can see the original Hebrew document here [PDF]; English translation here [PDF].)
The memo is not the first evidence of Meron's warnings, though. In 2006, I published another of his legal opinions, which I found in the late Prime Minister Levi Eshkol's declassified office files. Written in mid-September of 1967, about three months after the Six-Day War, it responds to a query from Eshkol's bureau about the legality of establishing settlements in the West Bank and Golan Heights.
He answered, "My conclusion is that civilian settlement in the administered territories contravenes explicit provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention."
Central figures in Israel’s government at the time – Eshkol, Foreign Minister Abba Eban, Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and Justice Minister Yaakov Shimshon Shapira – all received that legal advice. A week and a half later, the cabinet approved settlement in the West Bank for the first time. Ex post facto, a few scholars have manufactured the justifications for settlement that are regularly cited for hasbara purposes. But their legal gymnastics have never convinced anyone who was not trying hard to be convinced.
About Theodor Meron: Born in Poland, he spent his early teens in a Nazi labor camp. After he arrived in Palestine, he made up for his lost school years, then completed a law degree at Hebrew University, a doctorate at Harvard and a fellowship at Cambridge, both in international law.
Then he joined Israel's foreign service. A decade after writing the legal opinions described here, he returned to academia to teach international law at New York University. In 2001, as a U.S. citizen, he was appointed a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Today he is president of that court and one of the world's leading authorities on humanitarian law in war.
After his 1967 opinion on settlement became public, he told The Independent that he "would have given the same opinion today." The reason is clear from his 1968 opinion on demolitions, in which he dismissed "narrow, literal" interpretations of the Geneva Convention. The convention, he said, "is a humanitarian convention that aims to protect the rights of a civilian population."
Put differently, the convention can't be interpreted by splitting hairs and forgetting real human beings. Its point isn't to protect states. It is to protect people from a state whose army has conquered the land where they live and before whose power they are otherwise defenseless. If it is ignored, their basic rights will be trampled.
The discovery of Meron's memo on demolitions and deportations is additional evidence that the regime under which the West Bank is governed began in deception and has been maintained by self-deception – by the government, by the hasbara machine and sometimes by our Supreme Court.
That memo has already been submitted to Israel’s High Court of Justice by the Center for the Defence of the Individual and other human rights groups, in support of their request that an expanded panel of justices hear their challenge to the policy of demolitions. The court should accept that request, which gives it a chance to end the deception and put a stop to an unjust policy – one that should have ceased the day the memo reached the Prime Minister's Office 37 years ago.
Gershom Gorenberg is the author of "The Unmaking of Israel" and "The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977." Follow him on Twitter: @GershomG.
21 may 2015
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) demolished Thursday afternoon 12 homes in the unrecognized Bedouin village of al-Araqib in occupied Negev for the 84th time.
Several buildings have been demolished in the village for 83 times before, Israeli sources pointed out.
Israeli authorities carry out demolition policy against Palestinian homes in the unrecognized villages in order to force the local residents to leave their homes in profit of settlement expansion.
Several buildings have been demolished in the village for 83 times before, Israeli sources pointed out.
Israeli authorities carry out demolition policy against Palestinian homes in the unrecognized villages in order to force the local residents to leave their homes in profit of settlement expansion.
The Palestinian Agricultural Relief has reported, Thursday, that Israeli army bulldozers uprooted around 20 Dunams of Palestinian farmlands in the Wadi al-Hamra area, in Husan town, west of the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
It said the bulldozed and uprooted lands belong to several farmers from Husan and Nahhalin towns.
Secretary of the Husan Village Council Rami Hamamra said a large military force invaded the area, approximately at five at dawn, uprooted 20 Dunams planted with olive trees and grapevines.
Hamamra added that the lands belong to Mohammad Khalil Sabateen, in addition to three brothers identified as Nassim, Mohammad and Suleiman Thieb Sabateen.
He further stated that Israel is planning to establish a new illegal outpost that would be added to the Beitar Illit illegal settlement, built on Palestinian lands.
In addition, soldiers also closed the main roads leading to Husan and Nahhalin, and declared the area a closed military zone.
On Wednesday morning, Israeli settlers burned down 90 olive trees in Sarta town, in the central West Bank district of Salfit.
It said the bulldozed and uprooted lands belong to several farmers from Husan and Nahhalin towns.
Secretary of the Husan Village Council Rami Hamamra said a large military force invaded the area, approximately at five at dawn, uprooted 20 Dunams planted with olive trees and grapevines.
Hamamra added that the lands belong to Mohammad Khalil Sabateen, in addition to three brothers identified as Nassim, Mohammad and Suleiman Thieb Sabateen.
He further stated that Israel is planning to establish a new illegal outpost that would be added to the Beitar Illit illegal settlement, built on Palestinian lands.
In addition, soldiers also closed the main roads leading to Husan and Nahhalin, and declared the area a closed military zone.
On Wednesday morning, Israeli settlers burned down 90 olive trees in Sarta town, in the central West Bank district of Salfit.
20 may 2015
'Israeli practices in Area C, including a marked increase of demolitions and confiscations of donor-funded structures in the first quarter of 2015, have compounded an already untenable situation for Bedouin communities'
Senior UN officials have urged the Israeli government to "halt plans to transfer Palestinian Bedouins" in the central West Bank. In a joint press release [PDF] Wednesday, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, James W. Rawley, and the Director of UNRWA Operations West Bank, Felipe Sanchez, expressed their "grave concern" about the proposed expulsions.
According to Rawley, "Israeli practices in Area C, including a marked increase of demolitions and confiscations of donor-funded structures in the first quarter of 2015, have compounded an already untenable situation for Bedouin communities."
46 Palestinian Bedouin communities – some 7,000 people – are slated for transfer to three proposed "relocation" sites. In March, the UN Secretary-General expressed concern that the plans "may also be connected with settlement expansion", and noted that "forcible transfer" is "a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention."
The UN agencies contextualise the threatened expulsions with a "backdrop of a discriminatory zoning and planning regime that facilitates the development of illegal Israeli settlements at the expense of Palestinians, for whom it is almost impossible to obtain permits for construction."
Sanchez warned that "we are fast approaching the point of irreparable damage."
As occupying power, Israel is obligated to ensure the wellbeing of these communities and to respect international law. I strongly urge the Israeli authorities to halt all plans and practices that will directly or indirectly lead to the forcible transfer of the Bedouin and call on the international community to support the Bedouins' wish to remain where they are, pending their return to the Negev, and prevent this transfer from occurring.
Senior UN officials have urged the Israeli government to "halt plans to transfer Palestinian Bedouins" in the central West Bank. In a joint press release [PDF] Wednesday, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, James W. Rawley, and the Director of UNRWA Operations West Bank, Felipe Sanchez, expressed their "grave concern" about the proposed expulsions.
According to Rawley, "Israeli practices in Area C, including a marked increase of demolitions and confiscations of donor-funded structures in the first quarter of 2015, have compounded an already untenable situation for Bedouin communities."
46 Palestinian Bedouin communities – some 7,000 people – are slated for transfer to three proposed "relocation" sites. In March, the UN Secretary-General expressed concern that the plans "may also be connected with settlement expansion", and noted that "forcible transfer" is "a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention."
The UN agencies contextualise the threatened expulsions with a "backdrop of a discriminatory zoning and planning regime that facilitates the development of illegal Israeli settlements at the expense of Palestinians, for whom it is almost impossible to obtain permits for construction."
Sanchez warned that "we are fast approaching the point of irreparable damage."
As occupying power, Israel is obligated to ensure the wellbeing of these communities and to respect international law. I strongly urge the Israeli authorities to halt all plans and practices that will directly or indirectly lead to the forcible transfer of the Bedouin and call on the international community to support the Bedouins' wish to remain where they are, pending their return to the Negev, and prevent this transfer from occurring.
Some 790 Palestinian firms based in occupied Jerusalem are being transferred to Jewish ownership, Jordanian newspaper Al-Ghad reported yesterday.
Director of the Maps and Survey Department in the Orient House in Jerusalem, Khalil Al-Tafakji, said: "These properties are owned by Arab Palestinian families, including 595 residential apartments, 186 shops and 15 Islamic, nine Christian and 60 public facilities."
"The Israeli occupation confiscated these firms in 1968, turned them into state property, and now it is turning them into the ownership of Jewish settlers."
Al-Tafakji stressed: "The recent Israeli announcement to build new settlement units in occupied Jerusalem was a step towards turning Palestinian properties to Jewish settlers." He noted that the Israeli occupation does not hide its occupation and settlement plans.
Two days ago, the Israeli president and prime minister reiterated that Jerusalem, east and west, is a united city for the Jewish nation and it would remain the "eternal united capital" for them.
According to Al-Tafakji, the recent ongoing Israeli measures regarding the so-called "Absentee Property Law" is the Israeli tool used to target Palestinian properties owned by Palestinians living outside Jerusalem.
"Using this law, the occupation is targeting the remaining 13 per cent of occupied Jerusalem controlled by Palestinians," he said.
Director of the Maps and Survey Department in the Orient House in Jerusalem, Khalil Al-Tafakji, said: "These properties are owned by Arab Palestinian families, including 595 residential apartments, 186 shops and 15 Islamic, nine Christian and 60 public facilities."
"The Israeli occupation confiscated these firms in 1968, turned them into state property, and now it is turning them into the ownership of Jewish settlers."
Al-Tafakji stressed: "The recent Israeli announcement to build new settlement units in occupied Jerusalem was a step towards turning Palestinian properties to Jewish settlers." He noted that the Israeli occupation does not hide its occupation and settlement plans.
Two days ago, the Israeli president and prime minister reiterated that Jerusalem, east and west, is a united city for the Jewish nation and it would remain the "eternal united capital" for them.
According to Al-Tafakji, the recent ongoing Israeli measures regarding the so-called "Absentee Property Law" is the Israeli tool used to target Palestinian properties owned by Palestinians living outside Jerusalem.
"Using this law, the occupation is targeting the remaining 13 per cent of occupied Jerusalem controlled by Palestinians," he said.
The Israeli occupation bulldozers on Wednesday morning demolished a two-story residential apartment under construction and shops owned by the Abu Sneina family in Wad Qadoum neighborhood, in Jerusalem’s town of Silwan.
By-standers at the scene said a coterie of Israeli soldiers and border cops, accompanied by bulldozers, arrived during the early morning hours, cordoned off the area, and proceeded to raze the structures.
Palestinian civilian homes and structures in Occupied Jerusalem city have increasingly been leveled to the ground by the Israeli bulldozers under the pretext they had been built illegally.
Observers said such arbitrary demolitions make part of a larger Israeli ethnic-cleansing tactic aimed at driving Palestinian natives out of their own and only homes.
By-standers at the scene said a coterie of Israeli soldiers and border cops, accompanied by bulldozers, arrived during the early morning hours, cordoned off the area, and proceeded to raze the structures.
Palestinian civilian homes and structures in Occupied Jerusalem city have increasingly been leveled to the ground by the Israeli bulldozers under the pretext they had been built illegally.
Observers said such arbitrary demolitions make part of a larger Israeli ethnic-cleansing tactic aimed at driving Palestinian natives out of their own and only homes.
The Israeli Supreme court, on Tuesday, turned down an appeal, by the descendants of Sheikh Suleiman Muhammad al-Ukbi, against a three-year-old decision by the central court of Beersheba.
The court, in 2012, refused a request to register 1,000 dunams (250 acres) of land in the villages of al-Araqib and Shariaa in northern Negev to their names as heirs of the original owner Sheikh al-Ukbi, according to Ma'an/AFP.
The Supreme Court also decided that the land should be registered under the name of the Israeli development authority.
"The issue of Bedouin tribal rights to ownership of lands in the Negev is very important and an acceptable solution to both sides should be reached as soon as possible," the court decision read.
The court argued that during the era of the Ottoman Empire and the British Mandate, "rights were not granted to lands located far from populated areas."
For their part, members of al-Ukbi tribe claim ownership of 19,000 dunams (4750 acres) in al-Araqib where they "have dwelled and cultivated the land for decades."
They added that in 1951, the Israeli military authorities deported the tribe to the village of Hurah 20 kilometers east of al-Araqib citing security reasons.
"At that time, the Israeli authorities promised the chief of the tribe that the tribe would be allowed to go back to their lands after six months, however the promise was never met and instead the Israeli authorities enacted a law in 1953 and started to register the tribe's land to the Israeli development authority."
The Supreme Court decided Tuesday that al-Ukbi tribe failed to prove ownership of the land, and so they are not entitled to receive reimbursement.
Human Rights Watch condemned the court decisions, which pave the way for the eviction of Bedouins and Palestinians from their villages, calling on the state to let them stay put.
According to Human Rights Watch, the villagers say they were expelled from their land in 1948, when the state of Israel was established, and while they have been allowed to live there, Israel never recognized the village or approved a zoning plan for it.
In 2009, Israel approved plans for a Jewish village on the site, which means the Bedouins will be forced to relocate.
They are to be compensated for the land they relinquish.
The court said that since the Bedouins could theoretically live in the new town, this did not constitute discrimination.
In a separate ruling, it gave the green light to military orders to demolish the southern West Bank village of Susya, and relocate its 340 Palestinian residents nearby.
Israel said Susya was built on an archaeological site, and has refused to approve plans for homes there.
"It is a sad day when Israeli Supreme Court decisions provide legal cover for forced evictions, as in the case of these two villages," Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East and North Africa director said in a statement.
"The Israeli government should let these communities stay where they are, not force them to move yet again." The court decisions "ignore international law in upholding discriminatory evictions by the Israeli authorities in Israel and the occupied territories," she added.
According to HRW, there are approximately 80,000 Bedouins in Israel living in unrecognized Negev villages that are under constant threat of demolition.
Israel has attempted to implement a plan that would regulate disputes of land ownership in the southern desert territory.
In the West Bank, Israeli authorities approved less than six percent of Palestinian building permit requests between 2000 and 2012, HRW said.
"Israeli authorities' zoning and demolition policies in the West Bank, in some cases, can effectively amount to forcible transfer," it said.
The court, in 2012, refused a request to register 1,000 dunams (250 acres) of land in the villages of al-Araqib and Shariaa in northern Negev to their names as heirs of the original owner Sheikh al-Ukbi, according to Ma'an/AFP.
The Supreme Court also decided that the land should be registered under the name of the Israeli development authority.
"The issue of Bedouin tribal rights to ownership of lands in the Negev is very important and an acceptable solution to both sides should be reached as soon as possible," the court decision read.
The court argued that during the era of the Ottoman Empire and the British Mandate, "rights were not granted to lands located far from populated areas."
For their part, members of al-Ukbi tribe claim ownership of 19,000 dunams (4750 acres) in al-Araqib where they "have dwelled and cultivated the land for decades."
They added that in 1951, the Israeli military authorities deported the tribe to the village of Hurah 20 kilometers east of al-Araqib citing security reasons.
"At that time, the Israeli authorities promised the chief of the tribe that the tribe would be allowed to go back to their lands after six months, however the promise was never met and instead the Israeli authorities enacted a law in 1953 and started to register the tribe's land to the Israeli development authority."
The Supreme Court decided Tuesday that al-Ukbi tribe failed to prove ownership of the land, and so they are not entitled to receive reimbursement.
Human Rights Watch condemned the court decisions, which pave the way for the eviction of Bedouins and Palestinians from their villages, calling on the state to let them stay put.
According to Human Rights Watch, the villagers say they were expelled from their land in 1948, when the state of Israel was established, and while they have been allowed to live there, Israel never recognized the village or approved a zoning plan for it.
In 2009, Israel approved plans for a Jewish village on the site, which means the Bedouins will be forced to relocate.
They are to be compensated for the land they relinquish.
The court said that since the Bedouins could theoretically live in the new town, this did not constitute discrimination.
In a separate ruling, it gave the green light to military orders to demolish the southern West Bank village of Susya, and relocate its 340 Palestinian residents nearby.
Israel said Susya was built on an archaeological site, and has refused to approve plans for homes there.
"It is a sad day when Israeli Supreme Court decisions provide legal cover for forced evictions, as in the case of these two villages," Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East and North Africa director said in a statement.
"The Israeli government should let these communities stay where they are, not force them to move yet again." The court decisions "ignore international law in upholding discriminatory evictions by the Israeli authorities in Israel and the occupied territories," she added.
According to HRW, there are approximately 80,000 Bedouins in Israel living in unrecognized Negev villages that are under constant threat of demolition.
Israel has attempted to implement a plan that would regulate disputes of land ownership in the southern desert territory.
In the West Bank, Israeli authorities approved less than six percent of Palestinian building permit requests between 2000 and 2012, HRW said.
"Israeli authorities' zoning and demolition policies in the West Bank, in some cases, can effectively amount to forcible transfer," it said.
The PLO Department of International Relations called on Tuesday for a “real and urgent” U.N. intervention to stop the Israeli demolition policy in occupied Jerusalem.
The International Relation Department also stressed the need to put an end to the Judaization policy and to protect the occupied city’s Islamic and Arab character.
These Israel’s escalated violations came as part its annexation policy and efforts to foil the two-state solution and any attempt to establish an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital city.
The statement pointed out that hundreds of Jerusalemite facilities were demolished under the pretext of being built without permit including houses, stores, shops, tents, sheds, and weels.
According to the PLO International Relation Department, 77 houses and facilities were demolished since the beginning of the year in occupied Jerusalem.
The International Relation Department also stressed the need to put an end to the Judaization policy and to protect the occupied city’s Islamic and Arab character.
These Israel’s escalated violations came as part its annexation policy and efforts to foil the two-state solution and any attempt to establish an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital city.
The statement pointed out that hundreds of Jerusalemite facilities were demolished under the pretext of being built without permit including houses, stores, shops, tents, sheds, and weels.
According to the PLO International Relation Department, 77 houses and facilities were demolished since the beginning of the year in occupied Jerusalem.
19 may 2015
In the presence of State Secretary of Sweden, Ulrika Modéer, the Consul General of Sweden, Ann-Sofie Nilsson, and UNDP Special Representative of the Administrator, Frode Mauring, signed a USD 3.6 million agreement (SEK 30 million) to support the resilience of Palestinians residing in Area C and east Jerusalem.
The signing ceremony marks the third phase of the Community Resilience and Development Program (CRDP) implemented by UNDP, with funds from the Governments of Sweden, Austria, Norway and the United Kingdom.
Accompanied by Frode Mauring, UNDP Special Representative of the Administrator, State Secretary of Sweden, Ulrika Modéer, visited the Bedouin community of Maghayer Ad-Dier, where she was briefed on CRDP’s interventions and the threat of forcible transfer of Palestinian Bedouin communities.
"I'm deeply worried about the situation. There is a responsibility to support the rights and basic needs of Palestinians living in Area C and East Jerusalem," said Ulrika Modéer, Swedish State Secretary for International Development Cooperation. "With support, they - not the least the Bedouin communities - will be better equipped to stay, meet the challenges ahead and make better use of the resources in the area."
“The potential development opportunities in Area C are immense,” said Frode Mauring, UNDP Special Representative of the Administrator. “UNDP, through this program, is supporting the resilience and steadfastness of the Palestinian people, improve their livelihoods and empower them to advance development in their communities, “he added.
The projects funded through the third round of CRDP are geared towards safeguarding livelihoods and empowering local communities in various marginalized localities in Area C and East Jerusalem.
The program will target a number of sectors including economic empowerment, public and social infrastructure, access to and protection of natural resources.
Sweden has been a long-standing supporter of the Palestinian people. In October last year, when the Swedish government recognized the State of Palestine, it also adopted a new five year strategy for development cooperation with the State of Palestine, increasing the support by 50%. Swedish support to the State of Palestine amounts to around USD 100 million yearly (development support and humanitarian).
The signing ceremony marks the third phase of the Community Resilience and Development Program (CRDP) implemented by UNDP, with funds from the Governments of Sweden, Austria, Norway and the United Kingdom.
Accompanied by Frode Mauring, UNDP Special Representative of the Administrator, State Secretary of Sweden, Ulrika Modéer, visited the Bedouin community of Maghayer Ad-Dier, where she was briefed on CRDP’s interventions and the threat of forcible transfer of Palestinian Bedouin communities.
"I'm deeply worried about the situation. There is a responsibility to support the rights and basic needs of Palestinians living in Area C and East Jerusalem," said Ulrika Modéer, Swedish State Secretary for International Development Cooperation. "With support, they - not the least the Bedouin communities - will be better equipped to stay, meet the challenges ahead and make better use of the resources in the area."
“The potential development opportunities in Area C are immense,” said Frode Mauring, UNDP Special Representative of the Administrator. “UNDP, through this program, is supporting the resilience and steadfastness of the Palestinian people, improve their livelihoods and empower them to advance development in their communities, “he added.
The projects funded through the third round of CRDP are geared towards safeguarding livelihoods and empowering local communities in various marginalized localities in Area C and East Jerusalem.
The program will target a number of sectors including economic empowerment, public and social infrastructure, access to and protection of natural resources.
Sweden has been a long-standing supporter of the Palestinian people. In October last year, when the Swedish government recognized the State of Palestine, it also adopted a new five year strategy for development cooperation with the State of Palestine, increasing the support by 50%. Swedish support to the State of Palestine amounts to around USD 100 million yearly (development support and humanitarian).
Israeli bulldozers under police protection demolished at dawn Tuesday commercial stores under construction in Silwan district, east Jerusalem.
According to media sources, the stores belong to Anas Karama and expand over an area of 250 meters.
The demolition of the stores took place after midnight, particularly before the dawn prayers.
The Israeli occupation authority had issued yesterday demolition orders against Palestinian real estate in al-Bustan neighborhood of Silwan and several Palestinian citizens received notices in this regard.
Soldiers Demolish Three Stores In Silwan
Israeli soldiers invaded, on Tuesday at dawn, Ein al-Louza neighborhood, in Silwan town of occupied East Jerusalem, and demolished three Palestinian stores belonging to a Palestinian from the town.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan (Silwanic) has reported that dozens of soldiers, police officers and undercover units invaded Silwan, approximately at 4 at dawn, and surrounded Ein al-Louza neighborhood.
Silwanic added that the soldiers closed all roads leading to the neighborhood, prevented the Palestinians from entering or leaving it, and demolished three stores belonging as Anis Karama.
Soldiers also assaulted Karama as he was trying to reach his stores, causing various cuts and bruises, and proceeded to demolish his property.
Karama said he finished the construction of his three stores nearly two months ago, and that he was still preparing to furnish them.
The total size of the demolished properties is 200 square/meters.
He told Silwanic that he had some tools, gravel and bricks in his stores, and that the soldiers did not allow him to remove them.
According to media sources, the stores belong to Anas Karama and expand over an area of 250 meters.
The demolition of the stores took place after midnight, particularly before the dawn prayers.
The Israeli occupation authority had issued yesterday demolition orders against Palestinian real estate in al-Bustan neighborhood of Silwan and several Palestinian citizens received notices in this regard.
Soldiers Demolish Three Stores In Silwan
Israeli soldiers invaded, on Tuesday at dawn, Ein al-Louza neighborhood, in Silwan town of occupied East Jerusalem, and demolished three Palestinian stores belonging to a Palestinian from the town.
The Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan (Silwanic) has reported that dozens of soldiers, police officers and undercover units invaded Silwan, approximately at 4 at dawn, and surrounded Ein al-Louza neighborhood.
Silwanic added that the soldiers closed all roads leading to the neighborhood, prevented the Palestinians from entering or leaving it, and demolished three stores belonging as Anis Karama.
Soldiers also assaulted Karama as he was trying to reach his stores, causing various cuts and bruises, and proceeded to demolish his property.
Karama said he finished the construction of his three stores nearly two months ago, and that he was still preparing to furnish them.
The total size of the demolished properties is 200 square/meters.
He told Silwanic that he had some tools, gravel and bricks in his stores, and that the soldiers did not allow him to remove them.
18 may 2015
Israeli Municipality distributed two demolition notices to raze two shops in Silwan town to the south of al-Aqsa Mosque on Monday.
Media sources revealed that the Israeli municipality stormed two neighborhoods in Silwan town, took pictures of a number of the houses and facilities threatened with confiscation and hanged two demolition notices on the walls of two shops.
Silwan town has been exposed to non-stop Israeli violations including confiscation and Judaization of Palestinian houses and properties for the interest of Jewish settlers.
Media sources revealed that the Israeli municipality stormed two neighborhoods in Silwan town, took pictures of a number of the houses and facilities threatened with confiscation and hanged two demolition notices on the walls of two shops.
Silwan town has been exposed to non-stop Israeli violations including confiscation and Judaization of Palestinian houses and properties for the interest of Jewish settlers.
17 may 2015
Erdan urges PM to stop talking of building, and actually build in the capital, while Bennett tells world: 'Jerusalem is our soul, and you don't divide a soul'.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday night that Israel's answer to terrorist attacks aimed at its citizens should be to continue construction in Jerusalem.
"We are determined to go after the terrorists and stand against those who wish to harm us as a fortified wall," Netanyahu said at the annual Jerusalem Day ceremony at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva. "And we have another decisive answer: We keep building in Jerusalem all the time, developing it and paving new roads to it," he added.
"Jerusalem is our eternal united capital. It will never be divided again," Netanyahu vowed, describing the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem as a "drama on a Biblical scale."
"Our feet are standing within thy gates, O Jerusalem; Jerusalem, that art builded as a city that is compact together," the prime minister said, quoting from Psalms 122. "Compact together and will never be divided again," he added. He promised "to continue protecting Jerusalem. To develop Jerusalem of below, and draw strength from Jerusalem of above, from Torah studying and from all of the spiritual treasures of the people of Israel."
Netanyahu also quoted Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, who was among the first to arrive at the Western Wall on the day of Jerusalem's liberation in 1967 and was asked to make a radio address to mark the historic occasion, saying, "We have arrived and returned home, and we will never leave here!"
"From the days of the Bible and until this very day, Jerusalem has been the basis of our existence... Jews throughout the generations prayed for 'Next Year in Jerusalem'. The Prophet Isaiah made his prophecies here in Jerusalem. There are some among our enemies who say we are a foreign element. Have you heard that?! The Prophet Isaiah and King David were here 3,000 years ago. They prophesized here, reigned here, fought here - until the days of the Maccabees and later. We are not a foreign element! This is our land, and this is our city! This is how it has been and this is how it will continue to be!" the prime minister said.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett also vowed to never allow Jerusalem to be divided again. "To those who sit abroad and think there's some piece of real estate that is negotiable, we say: Jerusalem is the soul of the land of Israel, and you don't divide a soul!" Earlier in the evening, Bennett attended the traditional Jerusalem Day march to the Western Wall that ended with a ceremony. "Soon, in our time, Jews would be able to go up and pray on the Temple Mount, because the Temple Mount is ours," he said at the ceremony.
Likud MK Gilad Erdan, who chose not to join the fourth Netanyahu government, was also at the ceremony at the Western Wall. "The City of David, the Mount of Olives, the Old City, the Temple Mount - they will all remain in our hands forever," Erdan said. He also had a message to Netanyahu: "We need to build in Jerusalem. Not talk about building in Jerusalem, but actually build. Building in Jerusalem should not be a response to an event or a terror attack, it should be routine."
He expressed concern of the changes to the demographic balance in Jerusalem in recent years, saying current construction was not enough to meet the needs of the city's development.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday night that Israel's answer to terrorist attacks aimed at its citizens should be to continue construction in Jerusalem.
"We are determined to go after the terrorists and stand against those who wish to harm us as a fortified wall," Netanyahu said at the annual Jerusalem Day ceremony at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva. "And we have another decisive answer: We keep building in Jerusalem all the time, developing it and paving new roads to it," he added.
"Jerusalem is our eternal united capital. It will never be divided again," Netanyahu vowed, describing the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem as a "drama on a Biblical scale."
"Our feet are standing within thy gates, O Jerusalem; Jerusalem, that art builded as a city that is compact together," the prime minister said, quoting from Psalms 122. "Compact together and will never be divided again," he added. He promised "to continue protecting Jerusalem. To develop Jerusalem of below, and draw strength from Jerusalem of above, from Torah studying and from all of the spiritual treasures of the people of Israel."
Netanyahu also quoted Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, who was among the first to arrive at the Western Wall on the day of Jerusalem's liberation in 1967 and was asked to make a radio address to mark the historic occasion, saying, "We have arrived and returned home, and we will never leave here!"
"From the days of the Bible and until this very day, Jerusalem has been the basis of our existence... Jews throughout the generations prayed for 'Next Year in Jerusalem'. The Prophet Isaiah made his prophecies here in Jerusalem. There are some among our enemies who say we are a foreign element. Have you heard that?! The Prophet Isaiah and King David were here 3,000 years ago. They prophesized here, reigned here, fought here - until the days of the Maccabees and later. We are not a foreign element! This is our land, and this is our city! This is how it has been and this is how it will continue to be!" the prime minister said.
Education Minister Naftali Bennett also vowed to never allow Jerusalem to be divided again. "To those who sit abroad and think there's some piece of real estate that is negotiable, we say: Jerusalem is the soul of the land of Israel, and you don't divide a soul!" Earlier in the evening, Bennett attended the traditional Jerusalem Day march to the Western Wall that ended with a ceremony. "Soon, in our time, Jews would be able to go up and pray on the Temple Mount, because the Temple Mount is ours," he said at the ceremony.
Likud MK Gilad Erdan, who chose not to join the fourth Netanyahu government, was also at the ceremony at the Western Wall. "The City of David, the Mount of Olives, the Old City, the Temple Mount - they will all remain in our hands forever," Erdan said. He also had a message to Netanyahu: "We need to build in Jerusalem. Not talk about building in Jerusalem, but actually build. Building in Jerusalem should not be a response to an event or a terror attack, it should be routine."
He expressed concern of the changes to the demographic balance in Jerusalem in recent years, saying current construction was not enough to meet the needs of the city's development.
