Yearly report - 2003

Eviction, Demolition, Seizure & Closure of Palestinian people and houses is a constant Israeli policy

Introduction:

Israeli escalated its policy of house demolition in Jerusalem district during the 2003 by benefiting from the outbreak of the aggressive war against Iraq. The number of demolished houses and other structures in Jerusalem reached a record number during last year.

This policy is part of its repressive trend towards the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which aims at expelling all Palestinians out of their land. This year, in particular, Israeli took benefit of the war circumstances against Iraq in escalating the level of repression and aggression against Palestinians.

The city of Jerusalem and surrounding areas took its share of the Israeli demolition campaigns, which came as part of the Israeli Judaization process of the city based on emptying the city of its Palestinian inhabitants.

The following report of LRC/ Arab Studies Society, based in Jerusalem sheds the light on the Israeli eviction, demolition, closure and seizure of Palestinian people and houses during the year  2003.

Facts and figures:

Israel found a good opportunity in the out break of the Anglo- American war against Iraq to commit more unpunished crimes of killings, assassinations, detention, eviction, demolition and closure of Palestinian people, houses and structures in all parts of the occupied territories.

Concerning the city of Jerusalem, LRC field workers documented the demolition, closure, seizure and evacuation of 178 housing units during 2003 divided as followed:

1.  145 housing unit and barracks demolished under the pretexts of un-licensing ( see 

      table below);

2.  12 housing unit demolished for security claims ( see table below);

3.  1 housing unit closed for security claims ( see table below);

4.  11 housing unit were forcibly evacuated under the pretext of being old and

       dangerous ( see table below); 

4.  9 housing unit forcibly seized by Israeli colonists ( see details below);

The total number of rooms destroyed, closed, seized or evacuated in these housing units reached 695. The number of family members directly affected was 996, including 553 children. The total area of the destroyed, closed, seized and evacuated units was 21067 square meter.

In addition, about 50 demolition cases of other structures ( stores, businesses, fuel stations, wells, farms and 88 M² of cement and stone walls were also destroyed during 2003.

5 of the demolished housing units were destroyed for the second time while one housing unit was destroyed for the fourth time.

The total number of people indirectly affected by the aforementioned acts of demolition, closure, seizure and evacuation is about 2000 person.

Table No. (1)

House demolition in Jerusalem under the pretext of un- licensing by name of owner, date of demolition, location, area, number of housing units and number of family members and children during the year 2003