Palestinian family to lose Hebron home in latest Israeli demolition

Palestinian family to lose Hebron home in latest Israeli demolition
A week after Israel demolished a house in the occupied Hebron town of Beit Ummar, it has handed a new demolition notice to yet another Palestinian family.
2 min read
14 July, 2019
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 [Getty]
Israeli authorities on Saturday handed a notice to a Palestinian in occupied Hebron saying his home will be demolished.

Ali Mohammad Alami, from the Hebron town of Beit Ummar said he was given the notice for not having a building permit, which are rarely granted to Palestinians.

Local anti-settlements activist, Mohammad Awad, told Palestinian Authority’s news agency WAFA that Alami’s house will be demolished in a matter of time.

Last week, Israel demolished a house in Beit Ummar under the same trumped up permit claims. 

Building permits are made expensive and difficult to obtain and Israeli authorities rarely accept Palestinian applications. Often, they take years to process.

Between 2010 and 2014, only 1.5 percent of all Palestinian building permit applications across the occupied West Bank were approved by Israel, according to the UN.

The cost of a permit for a single home is estimated to be in the region of $30,000.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 600,000 Israeli Jews live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israeli settlers in occupied Hebron are known to be especially prone to violence, yet act with almost total impunity while under the protection of Israeli forces.

All Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank are classed as illegal under international law, particularly article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which asserts that "the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies".

Israeli forces and settlers routinely attack Palestinians in the occupied territories, demolishing their homes, poisoning their livestock and vandalising their properties.

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