14,000 Palestinian structures under demolition order, UN says

Some 14,000 Palestinian structures in the West Bank are currently under Israeli demolition orders, leaving residents and homes “in a state of chronic uncertainty and threat,” the UN said Monday.

The report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also highlighted the difficulty Palestinians face in obtaining building permits needed to prevent such demolition orders.

Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said in response that residents can apply to legalize unpermitted construction retroactively.

More than 11,000 Israeli demolition orders relating to an estimated 13,000 Palestinian structures are currently awaiting implementation in a huge swath of the occupied West Bank, said the report entitled “Under Threat.”

“While only a minority of the orders issued are executed, these orders do not expire,” it said. “Where the orders are implemented, they have resulted in displacement and disruption of livelihoods, the entrenchment of poverty and increased aid dependency.”

The report cites data from the Israeli authorities relating to the West Bank areas under full Israeli control, known as Area C and covering 60 percent of the territory.

It also notes nearly 7,000 demolition orders against settler-owned structures.

The data was obtained through a freedom of information request.

The spokesperson’s unit of COGAT told The Times of Israel in response that a resident who has built illegal structures is given a written warning and demolition order, and still has the option of filing a request to legalize construction through the planning and inspection mechanisms available at the IDF’s Civil Administration.

The spokesperson said there is no statute of limitations on construction violations, but added that in many instances illegal construction was legalized after residents turned to the Civil Administration.

According to existing agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the spokesperson’s unit said all construction in Area C necessitates approval by the authorities.

Area C is an administrative region created under the Oslo accords in 1995. Data cited prior to 1995 in the report refers to locations that would later become part of Area C.

Between 1988 and 2014, Israel issued more than 14,000 demolition orders against Palestinian-owned structures, of which upwards of 11,000 are currently outstanding, it said.

“In many cases, the same order targets multiple structures owned by the same household (e.g. their residence, an animal shelter, a storage room and a latrine),” said the UN report.

Last month 31 international organizations, including Oxfam and Amnesty International, criticized what they called a “surge” in West Bank demolitions.

They cited UN figures showing Israel’s destruction of 63 houses and other structures in a single week in August, leaving 132 Palestinians homeless.

“The planning and zoning regime applied by the Israeli authorities, including the ways in which public land is allocated, makes it virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits in most of Area C,” the report said.

COGAT said in response that the Civil Administration is currently promoting 13 zoning plans requested by the Palestinians which are in advanced planning stages. Four of the plans have already passed the planning stage, the spokesperson said.

The Times of Israel has learned that the Civil Administration is also promoting a plan to regulate the residence of the Palestinian Bedouin population, almost all of which lives in illegal structures.

As part of the plan, lands will be allocated with prepared infrastructure like water, sewage systems, electricity, all while respecting the Bedouin’s nomadic traditions. The plan was formulated during meetings between Israeli officials and representatives of the Bedouin community.

The former head of the Civil Administration Brig.-Gen. [ret.] Dov Tzedaka has been named as the point man for contact with the Bedouin community in order to promote planning.

— AFP contributed to this report.