Elham Asaad Buaras
Israeli authorities have demolished at least 140 Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem this year, the highest annual number since human rights group B’Tselem began keeping records in 2004.
According to the report released on October 24, the demolition of homes
built without Israeli permits comes amid a major increase in illegal Jewish settlement activity both in East Jerusalem and in the occupied West Bank since US President, Donald Trump, took office.
B’Tselem said that 238 Palestinians have lost their homes this year, including 127 children.
The second-highest number of demolitions on record was in 2016 when 92 homes were demolished.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Six-Day war. Israel annexed East Jerusalem that year in a move not recognised internationally.
Shortly after capturing East Jerusalem, Israel expanded the municipal boundaries to take in large areas of vacant land on which it later constructed Jewish settlements.
Demolition of houses East Jerusalem 2004-2019
At the same time, it sharply limited the expansion of Palestinian neighbourhoods, forcing many in the increasingly crowded areas to build “illegally.”
In September another Israeli human rights group, Peace Now, obtained official figures on building permits in East Jerusalem going back to 1991 that provided strong evidence of systematic discrimination against Palestinian residents.
While Palestinians make up more than 60 per cent of the population of East Jerusalem, they had received just 30 per cent of permits. As a result, Peace Now estimates that half of the 40,000 housing units built in Palestinian neighbourhoods since 1967 lack permits, placing them at constant risk of demolition.