A/HRC/40/42
link Ma’ale Adumim with Jerusalem. A total of 520 structures, a quarter of which are donor
funded, are at risk of demolition or confiscation and 419 people, about half of them children,
are at heightened risk of forcible transfer. 34
20.
During the reporting period, the Bedouin community of Abu Nuwar located in the
E1 settlement plan area was subject to several demolitions. In December 2017, Israeli
authorities demolished two European Union-funded classrooms in Abu Nuwar, which
served 26 students. The European Union had partly replaced the seven structures of the
community primary school that were demolished in 2016.35 On 4 July 2018, the authorities
demolished another 19 structures, displacing 51 people, including 33 children. 36 Such
confiscations and demolitions result in violations of the right to an adequate standard of
living, the right to adequate housing and the right to education. Furthermore, demolitions
carried out by the Israeli authorities in the context of discriminatory planning structures are
unlawful under international law and constitute forced evictions.37 The compounded effects
of these ongoing violations, along with the constant threat of additional demolitions, 38
contribute to a coercive environment that puts the community at risk of forcible transfer. 39
21.
Thirty-four Palestinian residents of four buildings were evicted by settlers in East
Jerusalem, compared with 24 Palestinians evicted from three buildings in East Jerusalem in
the previous reporting period.40 In April 2018, the Israeli police evicted residents of three
apartments in two buildings in Silwan in East Jerusalem, affecting 15 members of an
extended family. One of the owners of the buildings had been killed in an unsolved murder
three years previously, leaving accumulated debts. According to his lawyer and members of
his family, the general custodian (responsible for, inter alia, managing property that belongs
to persons who went into bankruptcy) transferred the deceased owner’s property to the
settler organization Elad, which obtained a court ruling to evict the residents of the three
apartments despite the deceased being one of several heirs to the buildings among his
siblings and cousins. A court case was ongoing at the time of the eviction, in which the
family was protesting the legality of the transfer of ownership. The court cancelled the
eviction, but it was nevertheless carried out by the police. The family is not allowed to
return to its apartments while the case is pending.
22.
While settlers vacated the occupied Abu Rajab house in H2 in March 2018, in the
same month settlers took over the al-Zaateri house, also in H2, which is also the subject of a
pending legal case regarding its ownership.41 On 29 October 2018, settlers escorted by the
Israeli security forces occupied two other houses in the H2 area of Hebron. The houses,
which belong to two Palestinian families from Hebron, were closed by military orders in
2000, after which the security forces installed a military base on the rooftops.
23.
Settlement expansion, restrictions on freedom of movement and the continued threat
of demolitions add to the coercive environment of Al-Walaja, a community of 2,671
individuals. In 2018, new plans were proposed that, if approved,42 would double the size of
the settlement of Har Gilo, encircling the village. This would further isolate Al-Walaja
residents from both Jerusalem and Bethlehem.43 In March 2018, sewage emanating from
this settlement flowed into the village, near its only health centre.44 In January 2018, an
Israeli national park visitor centre was opened at the Ein Haniya spring, central to the
community life of Al-Walaja.
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
6
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, West Bank Demolitions and Displacement: An
Overview, November 2017, on file.
Ibid., February 2018.
Ibid., July 2018.
A/72/564, paras. 26 and 49.
Including through weekly inspections in the community by the Israeli Civil Administration.
A/HRC/34/39, para. 47.
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
A/73/410, para. 7.
The proposal is pending approval by the Industrial Cooperation Authority. Yotam Berger, “Israel
pushing plan to expand settlement toward Bethlehem”, Haaretz, 26 June 2018.
A/HRC/37/43, para. 19.
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
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