Wednesday, April 16

The continuing destruction of Palestinian homes

Rory McCarthy

Far’un (WEST BANK): In the end it came down to
a single-page letter, written in Hebrew and Arabic
and hand-delivered by an Israeli army officer who
knocked at the front door. The letter spelt the imminent
destruction of the three-storey home and small, tree-lined
garden that Bassam Suleiman spent so long saving for
and then built with his family a decade ago.

It was a final demolition order, with instructions to
evacuate the house within three days.

If Mr. Suleiman was in any doubt about the Israeli
military’s intentions he had only to look outside
his back door where large piles of rubble and broken
concrete mark the remains of some of his neighbours’
houses that were demolished last year.

“How would you feel when you’ve spent 20
years finishing your life’s project?” said Mr.
Suleiman, 38, a teacher. He began moving his
furniture out after the letter, from the civil
administration of Judea and Samaria, the
department responsible for the Israeli-occupied
West Bank, came on January 31.“Everything I
did in my life was for what’s now inside this
house and now it’s going to be destroyed,”
said Mr. Suleiman. “It’s very hard for me to
find somewhere else to live.”
The Israeli authorities argue that Mr. Suleiman’s house
was built in a part of the West Bank known as area C,
a designation from the era of the Oslo Accords which
means Israel has full military and administrative control.
In order to build, a Palestinian must apply for a permit
from the Israeli authorities. If there is no permit —
as in Suleiman’s case — the building is liable for demolition.

This year there has been a marked increase in demolitions.
There were 138 demolitions between January and March,
most in area C, compared to 29 in the last three months of
2007, according to the U.N. Office for the Co-ordination of
Humanitarian Affairs. This year 400 Palestinians have
been displaced as a result. At a time of a renewed peace
process to create an independent Palestinian state, the
reality in the West Bank is that Jewish settlements are
growing and demolitions of Palestinian homes
are on the increase.

The problems of the village of Far’un, south of Tulkarem,
are complicated by the vast West Bank barrier, which
here runs away from the 1949 ceasefire line that divides
Israel and the Palestinian territories. The wide, steel
fence, which passes just a few dozen metres from
Mr. Suleiman’s home, cuts off the village from a
slice of its agricultural land and underground water
reserves and has turned this area into a dangerous
no-go zone: in December 2006, a 14-year-old Palestinian
girl playing nearby was shot dead by an Israeli soldier.

Israel’s Civil Administration offered no explanation for
the rise in demolitions but said: “The procedures that
are carried out before the materialisation of a demolition
order include: issuance of an order to cease building that
is usually issued in the early stages of the construction of
foundations; numerous deliberations at the High Planning
and Zoning Committee and of course an open door to the
Supreme Court of Justice. These procedures are valid for
both Palestinians and Israelis alike.” It said the buildings
demolished in Far’un were “built illegally without the
required licences”.
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