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via email from UN Displacement Working Group for Occupied Palestinian Territories (DWG-oPT_


Today, 30 April, Israeli authorities demolished one Palestinian structure in At Thuri in East Jerusalem, i.e. a balcony without a roof. The balcony was built in 1999 to support the foundations of the main house, which was built prior to 1967. The family reports having received a stop-work order the same year, followed by several demolition orders and a final demolition order in February of this year. According to the family, the house is located in an area zoned for residential construction, but strict rules relating to parcellation have complicated efforts to obtain building permits in the area. One family (non-refugees) of 7 people, all adults, were affected.

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Army Demolishes Three Homes In Occupied Jerusalem

by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Monday morning, April 29, 2013, Israeli soldiers demolished three Palestinian homes in the At-Tour area, in occupied East Jerusalem, rendering at least 30 Palestinians homeless.

Mohammad Abu Al-Hummus, coordinator of the At-Tour and Al-Esawiyya Follow-up Committee, told the Radio Bethlehem 2000, in Bethlehem, that two army bulldozers, accompanied by several military jeeps, invaded the area, and demolished three homes that belong to Gheith family.

Abu Al-Hummus added that the army previously forced the residents out of their homes three times under the pretext that they were built without construction permits.

He also stated that the area in question witnesses frequent attacks and violations carried out by Israeli soldiers and extremist settlers at it falls under the area Israel illegally classifies as a “National Garden”.

In Bethlehem, Israeli soldiers invaded the Dheisheh refugee camp, south of the city, and kidnapped a Palestinian youth.

Local sources reported that the army kidnapped Hamdan Ibrahim Zawahra after breaking into his family’s home and violently searching it. He was cuffed, blindfolded and was moved to an unknown destination.

On Sunday evening, the army kidnapped a disabled Palestinian man at the Al-Karama border terminal in the West Bank as he was heading home in Jenin, in the northern part of the West Bank.

Ala’ Hasan Wishahi, 22, was returning home following pilgrimage in Mecca – Saudi Arabia, local sources reported.

On Sunday at night, undercover forces of the Israeli army kidnapped a Palestinian man at a Coffee Shop in Jaba’ town, south of Jenin.

The man, Abdul-Karim Awad Alawna, 30, is a former political prisoner who spent several years in Israeli prisons.

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JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israel razed four apartments on Monday in the al-Tur neighborhood of East Jerusalem, in spite of several attempts to revoke the demolition order, owners said.

Israeli authorities evicted 24 Gaith family members -- including five children and an elderly woman -- from the apartments ahead of the demolition, Rushi Ghaith, one of the owners, told Ma'an.

The apartments were scheduled for demolition in December but the family secured a court-ordered injunction to stop it from going ahead until September, Ghaith said.

The Ghaith family lawyer said they had successfully stalled attempts to raze the apartments since September 2004, when Israeli authorities handed down the demolition notice because the home was built without a licensing permit. The family's case to reverse the demolition order is ongoing.

Ghaith said the family has been fined 88,000 Israeli shekels since the case began.

Two of the family members have been diagnosed with cancer, including one of the owners, he added.

Local field researcher Ahmad Sub Laban said Israel has earmarked the area for the construction of an illegal outpost called National Park 11092 A.

"This project confiscates 740 dunams of Issawiyah lands and al-Tur lands. According to Israeli law, no construction is permitted on these lands," he said.

The plan was frozen after international condemnation, he said, and is awaiting re-approval from the Israeli government.

According to the UN, 33 percent of all Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem lack Israeli-issued building permits, which are difficult to obtain, potentially placing at least 93,100 residents at risk of displacement. Since 1967, the Israeli authorities have demolished some 2,000 houses in East Jerusalem.