Peace Now 'deeply concerned' over possible settlement expansions

https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776947

9 May 2017     Maan News

The Israeli settlement of Har Homa, built in East Jerusalem, as seen on September 1, 2014. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli, File)

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- After reports emerged last week that the Israeli government was preparing to advance 15,000 new settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem in contravention of international law, settlement watchdog Peace Now said it was “deeply concerned” over the implications of the possible settlement expansion.

According to reports, Israeli authorities aim to expand the illegal Ramat Shlomo by 3,000 housing units, build 2,000 units for the planned Givat Hamatos settlement, and also advance plans to build 10,000 settlement housing units in the occupied Palestinian territory in the Atarot settlement area north of Jerusalem, years after the plan was shelved due to opposition by then-US President Barack Obama.

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi had strongly condemned the settlement construction plan, calling it a “deliberate affront to the international community, a flagrant violation of international law, and a direct blow to peace.”

In an analysis of the plans published by Peace Now on Monday, the NGO said it was “deeply concerned regarding the possible development in Givat Hamatos in particular, which is the most immediate,” stressing that Givat Hamatos “will create a territorial barrier of Israeli settlements between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem.”

The planned area for Givat Hamatos is located between the two established illegal Israeli settlement of Gilo and Har Homa north of Bethlehem in the southern occupied West Bank, and would thus establish a territorial continuity of the three Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

As a result, the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa -- already surrounded from the west and south by Gilo -- would become completely isolated from other Palestinian neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem as well as Bethlehem.

Givat Hamatos would also become the first new Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem in 20 years, Peace Now highlighted, since Har Homa was built in 1997 when Benjamin Netanyahu was first elected as Israel’s prime minister.

Givat Hamatos plan (Peace Now)

Regarding the planned units for Atarot, Peace Now said the expansion would be “a devastating new development that will hinder the possibility of a two-state solution,” and that the new units would further cut off East Jerusalem from Ramallah city in the occupied West Bank.

Peace Now said it was not familiar that plans were advancing for the units, saying that if the reports were true “it will be the first time that such a plan is exposed to the public and advanced."

Currently Atarot serves as an industrial area and a now defunct airport, considered by Palestinians to be the future airport of a Palestinian state.

Tenders for the 3,000 new units for Ramat Shlomo were published for the neighborhood during a visit by then-US Vice President Joe Biden in 2010, Peace Now said, but the group did not have further information on the potential impact of the plans.

The Israeli government has already pushed the advancement of some 6,000 new illegal settlement housing units on occupied Palestinian land since the beginning of the year, and passed the outpost Regularization law, which has paved the way for the retroactive legalization of dozens of illegal Israeli settler outposts.

The moves come as Israel demolished a record high number of Palestinian homes in 2016.

The increase in Israeli settlement expansion plans in 2017 has been linked to the election of US President Donald Trump, who is widely seen as a stalwart ally of the Israeli government.

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Israeli forces demolish East Jerusalem home, leaving 6 Palestinians homeless

https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=776867

MAY 5, 2017 10:36 A.M. (UPDATED: MAY 8, 2017 7:06 P.M.) Maan News

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Amid a spate of demolitions in occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities demolished a home in the town of Sur Bahir on Thursday, leaving six Palestinians homeless.

Israeli bulldozers, escorted by crew from Israel’s Jerusalem municipality and armed Israeli forces, demolished a house Sur Bahir belonging to Ashraf Fawaqa.

Fawaqa told Ma’an that forces raided his house without prior notice, and began emptying and evacuating the house in preparation for demolition. Authorities told Fawaqa that his home would be destroyed for lacking nearly impossible to obtain construction permits.

According to Fawaqa, he had been trying to obtain licenses for his house since he built it six years ago, but no no avail, pointing out that had paid more than 200,000 shekels ($55,403) in lawyers fees over the years.

He added that while the Jerusalem municipal court and magistrate's court approved the demolition, the Israeli Supreme Court had frozen the demolition.

Despite the supreme court’s ruling, Israeli forces destroyed Fawaqa’s 100-square-meter house, leaving him, his wife, and their four children -- the eldest of whom is eight years old -- homeless.

A spokesperson from the Jerusalem municipality was not immediately available for comment.

Earlier on Thursday, Israeli forces demolished three Palestinian buildings, also for lacking construction permits, which Israel rarely grants Palestinians.

The Jerusalem municipality has claimed that compared to the Jewish population, it receives a disproportionately low number of permit applications from Palestinian communities, which see high approval rates.

However, testimonies collected by the Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ) found that the procedures to apply for Israeli-issued building permits were lengthy, sometimes lasting for several years, while the application costs could reach up to 300,000 shekels ($79,180).

As four out of five of Palestinians in East Jerusalem live under the poverty line, applying for costly building permits is nearly impossible, leading to only seven percent of Jerusalem building permits go to Palestinian neighborhoods.

Israeli authorities have stepped up issuing demolition warrants for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, particularly after Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barakat warned that the demolition of the illegal Israeli outpost of Amona in the occupied West Bank would be met with the mass demolition of Palestinian homes lacking the nearly impossible to obtain Israeli-issued building permits.

According to UN documentation, as April 17, 59 Palestinian-owned structures were demolished by Israel in East Jerusalem since the beginning of the year, displacing at least 135 Palestinians. A total of 190 Palestinian buildings were demolished in East Jerusalem in 2016.

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