WEST BANK: Israel's Jerusalem municipality issues demolition orders for dozens of Palestinian homes in the Shuafat refugee camp, threatening to leave thousands homeless

Record ID: 564752

  • Title: WEST BANK: Israel's Jerusalem municipality issues demolition orders for dozens of Palestinian homes in the Shuafat refugee camp, threatening to leave thousands homeless
  • Date: 12th November 2013
  • Summary: SHUAFAT REFUGEE CAMP, WEST BANK (NOVEMBER 9, 2013) (REUTERS) CLUSTER OF HIGH-RISE RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS NEXT TO CONCRETE WALL (ISRAEL'S WEST BANK SECURITY BARRIER) MORE OF BUILDINGS NEXT TO THE WALL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) KHADER EL-DEBS, RESIDENT OF SHUAFAT REFUGEE CAMP, SAYING: "Almost a week ago a big number of security forces came here from the police, municipality, intelligence and border police - all the organisations of the occupation state - to these two locations (Ras Shhadeh and Ras Hamiees). They started hanging documents on all of the buildings that you see here in the front and in the back." CONCRETE WALL SNAKING ACROSS LAND AND NEAR HOUSES NEW UNFINISHED BUILDINGS NEAR THE WALL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) KHADER EL-DEBS, RESIDENT OF SHUAFAT REFUGEE CAMP, SAYING: "Now the Israeli occupation had crossed all red lines with its demolition acts as a results of the international silence over the occupation crimes against our Palestinian people be it in Jerusalem or in the West Bank." ISRAELI CHECKPOINT CARS PASSING THROUGH CHECKPOINT VARIOUS OF TRAFFIC GROCERY SHOP MORE OF TRAFFIC (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) JAMAL GHAITH, RESIDENT OF THE SHUAFAT REFUGEE CAMP, SAYING: "We are not ready to recognise the Israeli courts. They want to demolish? Let them come and demolish but we are warning them that we will protest in tents in Beit Al-Makdis (Al-Aqsa Mosque). They are maybe looking for a third intifada if they want sixteen thousand people to become homeless." HOUSES IN CAMP (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) JAMAL GHAITH, RESIDENT OF THE SHUAFAT REFUGEE CAMP, SAYING: "All of the residents who are living in these buildings are refugees. The camp is full of residents, and some of the residents have two kids or three or four or five even . And had purchased apartments for them in those buildings to live in. So all of them are refugees. Their parents were displaced in 1948 then in 1967. Do they want to displace them again in 2013?" MORE OF HOUSES CHILDREN PLAYING NEXT TO UNFINISHED HOUSE BOY SITTING ON A ROCK
  • Embargoed: 27th November 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3XY5V8MD1506WHWCY932LP5ZL
  • Story Text: In the shadow of Israel's security barrier in the West Bank, residents of Shuafat Palestinian refugee camp face losing their homes.
    The camp lies within the borders internationally recognised as the occupied West Bank but within territory that Israel annexed as part of an expanded municipality of Jerusalem after 1967.
    The camp is a densely populated area and over the years new houses have been built to accommodate the growing population.
    But now the court has issued demolition orders for dozens of houses, including the district of high-rise apartment blocks which are said to have been originally built without adequate building permits. If the demolition plan goes ahead, thousands of refugees would become homeless.
    "Almost a week ago a big number of security forces came here from the police, municipality, intelligence and border police - all the organisations of the occupation state - to these two locations (Ras Shhadeh and Ras Khamis). They started hanging documents on all of the buildings that you see here in the front and in the back," said camp resident Khader Al-Debs pointing to a residential area of high-rise apartment buildings behind him.
    "Now the Israeli occupation had crossed all red lines with its demolition acts as a results of the international silence over the occupation crimes against our Palestinian people be it in Jerusalem or in the West Bank," Al-Debs added.
    People living in the Shuafat refugee camp are treated by the Israeli authorities as Jerusalem residents. Most of them are holders of Jerusalem identification cards and pay for services and taxes to the state of Israel.
    When the West Bank security barrier was built the refugee camp was left on the West Bank side of the concrete wall separating the community from the city in which it legally resides.
    Palestinian East Jerusalemites have long complained about what they call neglect and double standards when it comes to the provision of municipal services they have paid for, and the issuing of building permits by Israel's Jerusalem municipality. But those who have been left behind the security wall say they face even more problems when it comes to services and restrictions on movement.
    The court demolition order has contributed to the anger built up over the years.
    "We are not ready to recognise the Israeli courts. They want to demolish? Let them come and demolish but we are warning them that we will protest in tents in Beit Al Makdis (Al Aqsa Mosque). They are maybe looking for a third intifada if they want sixteen thousand people to become homeless," said camp resident, Jamal Ghaith.
    The camp is home to several thousand Palestinians. Over 12,000 people officially resided in Shuafat camp as of 2012, according the the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). But UNRWA said the actual number was much higher as many refugees and non-refugees have moved into the camp to avoid losing their residency rights in Jerusalem.
    In 1948 and 1967, thousands of Palestinians were displaced. Since then the population has grown and more housing needed to accommodate expanding families.
    "All of the residents who are living in these buildings are refugees. The camp is full of residents, and some of the residents have two kids or three or four or five even . And had purchased apartments for them in those buildings to live in. So all of them are refugees. Their parents were displaced in 1948 then in 1967. Do they want to displace them again in 2013?" asked Ghaith.
    The Israeli human rights body, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, condemned the plan and blamed the Jerusalem municipality for the current tensions.
    "The (Israeli) authorities have refused for years not only to develop the area, but even to undertake basic planning that would allow the tens of thousands of residents of the area to obtain legal building permits. The municipality's efforts have instead been focused on dragging families though legal proceedings that garner fines of hundreds of thousands of shekels that flow into the city's coffers, and providing legal sanctioning for the destruction of homes and lives in East Jerusalem," the Association said in its press release on November 5.
    The Jerusalem Municipality said on Tuesday (November 12) the demolition orders in question have not been finalised and were in fact notifications of orders issued by the court.
    "Regarding Ras Khamis, they were not demolition orders but court orders, signed by the courts not the municipality," said Brachie Sprung, spokesperson for the Jerusalem mayor in a letter to Reuters.
    She added: "the Municipality of Jerusalem has focused considerable effort in upgrading the quality of life for the city's Arab residents. Mayor Barkat's objective is to close the gap that has deepened due to the decades of neglect in parts of the city."
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