Join the call for an immediate end to Israeli demolitions

10Our Target

10,000

A recently demolished Palestinian home in a Bedouin encampment, Jordan Valley. Photo by William Parry

Few aspects of Israel’s nearly 48-year-long military occupation of Palestinian land are as brutal, destructive and inhumane as home demolitions.

The home is the heart of family life. Israel’s campaign of home demolitions and forced displacement is systematic and is designed to push Palestinians off their land. It has a profound psychological and economic impact on Palestinian families and the viability of indigenous communities, adversely affecting health, education and livelihoods.

The demolition by the Israeli authorities of nearly 29,000 Palestinian homes and structures contravenes its obligations as an occupying power and is against international law.

Israel has nonetheless accelerated its campaign of home demolitions and forced displacement since it agreed to an intensive round of US-sponsored peace talks last July. Almost every week, dozens of Palestinians have their homes destroyed and face displacement, sometimes for the second or third time.

While claiming to be committed to peace talks, Israel has ramped up its destruction of Palestinian homes and livelihood structures and intensified its building of illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. According to the United Nations, the number of Palestinian structures demolished and Palestinians displaced so far this year is up by 29% and 32%, respectively, compared to the same period in 2013 – a year which witnessed a steep rise in demolitions and displacement.

We join Medical Aid for Palestinians in calling on the UK government to use all available pressure to bring an immediate end to Israel’s systematic demolition of Palestinian homes and structures in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and to fulfil its legal and moral obligations under international law to safeguard the health and well-being of Palestinian civilians living under its military occupation.

http://www.map-uk.org/get-involved/campaign-with-us/call-for-an-immediate-end-to-israeli-demolitions.aspx