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Photo: AFP
Palestinians protest in Jordan Valley
Photo: AFP

Red Cross stops providing tents for homeless Jordan Valley Palestinians

According to Red Cross, Israeli civil and military officials tore down tents it provided to residents after the IDF demolished their homes

The International Committe of the Red Cross has stopped providing tents for Palestinian residents in the Jordan Valley whose houses were demolished by the IDF after the Israeli military destroyed them too.

 

 

The decision came after the IDF tore down the tents and also prevented the organization from taking tents into villages in the area, as part of a humanitarian aid supply.

 

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The houses, which were built without permits, were destroyed several months ago by the IDF, in line with a court ruling.

 

Illegal temporary structures located in the Jordan Valley, a location source of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, are frequently removed by the IDF and personnel from the Civil Administration, the Defense Ministry-controlled department responsible for the civilian population in the West Bank. The army says that structures are usually located within military firing ranges.

 

In certain incidents, the IDF decided in advance to restrict Red Cross initiatives to bring in tents to the area by setting up roadblocks at entrances to villages.

 

The organization informed the Palestinians of the decision, and stressed that they would continue to provide tents to residents from other areas of the West Bank and East Jerusalem whose houses had been destroyed by the army. They also reassured the residents of the area that they would continue to receive other forms of aid.

 

In December 2013, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) condemned Israeli demolitions of Palestinian structures in the West Bank, and called on Israel to halt them "immediately".

  

According to the UN, more than 630 Palestinian structures were demolished in 2013 in Area C, the 60% of the West Bank that is under full Israeli military control.

 

Some 1,035 Palestinians have been displaced by the demolitions, the UN said, adding that more than 80 percent of the displacement occurred in the Jordan Valley.

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.05.14, 14:11
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