Peace Now: Only Palestinians' houses demolished
Left-wing movement's report reveals some 70,000 West Bank Palestinians live in Area C under full Israeli control, but only few receive building permits. According to report, for each building permit Civil Administration gives Palestinians, its issues 55 demolition orders
Civil Administration officials rejected the claims, saying that the figures were inaccurate.
Data delivered to Knesset Member Chaim Oron (Meretz), in response to a question he asked the defense minister, revealed that Palestinians hardly received building permits in the areas controlled by Israel.
Peace Now officials said that when the Palestinians have no other choice but to build without receiving a permit, the Civil Administration destroys about 33% of the illegal building, after issuing a demolition order.
In the settlements, however, less than 7% of the demolition orders are executed, an official added.
According to Peace Now, since the year 2000 and up to September 2007, for each building permit given to the Palestinians by the Civil Administration, some 55 demolition orders are issues and about 18 buildings are demolished.
The report revealed that the Palestinians are only given 91 building permits, while more than 18,472 housing units were built in the settlements.
'Quiet transfer planned'
The report also claimed that 4,993 demolition orders had been issued against Palestinians, compared to 2,900 orders issued against settlers' buildings.
Peace Now also said that 1,663 Palestinian buildings were demolished during that time period compared to 199 buildings in the settlements, and that between three to six permits per year were given to Palestinians between the years 2000 and 2004.
Peace Now Secretary-General Yariv Oppenheimer told Ynet, "The Civil Administration figures clarify that the West Bank territories controlled by Israel are for Jews only. The settlers' claims that they are being discriminated against are groundless. The Palestinian residents' illegal building is destroyed, while no enforcement is carried out in the outposts."
A Peace Now official added that "the data prove that the discrimination is clearly and blatantly against the Palestinian population, and the denial of permits and the firm enforcement in the Palestinian communities raises the suspicion that this is an intentional policy aimed at bringing about a quiet transfer of the Palestinians from Area C."
