Demolitions & Displacement in the occupied West Bank and within the State of Israel
March 2023 Report – ICAHD
During just one day, 6 March 2023, the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA) along with members of the Israel army did the following:
Demolished four houses, one latrine and two water systems in Mantiqat Sh`ib al Butum, Hebron. As a result, four households comprising 26 people including seven children were displaced. All the demolished structures were donor funded and were provided by an international NGO as a response to a previous demolition that happened on 3 January 2023. This is the third demolition incident for these people in the same location since February 2022. The owners did not receive any prior written orders by the ICA.
In Jericho city, they confiscated two mobile homes that were about to be inhabited, affecting two households comprising seven people including three children.
In al-Za’ayyim, a Bedouin community East of Jerusalem along Highway 1, three agricultural structures and one animal-related structure were demolished, which affected 11 adults and one child from four households.
Also, that day personnel from the Jerusalem municipality along with Israeli forces demolished two houses, built 20 years ago, in Wadi al Joz, East Jerusalem. As a result, five households comprising 19 people including seven children were displaced, and two other households comprising 15 people including a child were affected. Over the years, the families have paid over $55,000 in fines to the Jerusalem municipality.
In each case, the reason given for the demolitions is that the structures had not been issued a building permit. But Israeli authorities rarely grant permits to Palestinians while allowing Israelis to race ahead constructing Jewish settlements, illegal under international law. This is how Israel’s demolitions work by doing a few each day, not making the news and with no governments calling Israel to account for these violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Find maps on the ICAHD website that illustrate the location of Israel’s demolitions of homes and structures vital for living. The maps are prepared on a monthly basis and also included are animated maps that depict the growing numbers of demolitions as the year progresses.
Photo on front page: Baby’s crib among the rubble of a demolition. Source: ICAHD. Image on this page: Graphic from ICAHD’s online March 2023 report. Source: ICAHD.
