Ethnic Cleansing in Beit Hanina

Ethnic Cleansing is the term that describes the Israeli practices in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Since the eruption of the second Intifada, in September 2000, to this today, the Israeli forces demolished thousands of houses in the Palestinian Territory particularly in occupied East Jerusalem and the surrounding villages. According to ARIJ Database, during the period between January 2000 and July 2006, a total of 421 Palestinian houses were completely demolished and 30308 dunums of lands planted with 23420 fruitful trees were razed in Jerusalem Governorate. Table one below shows the Israeli violations in Jerusalem governorate from January 2000 until July 2006.

Table 1: The Israeli violations in Jerusalem governorate from January 2000 until July 2006

Source: ARIJ Database 2006

Chart one below is an illustration of the Israeli violations in Jerusalem governorate as shown in table one.

 Source: ARIJ Database 2006

About Beit Hanina town

Beit Hanina town is located north of Jerusalem city. The town is located in the center of a cluster of several Palestinian towns and villages; they are Al Ram, Dahiyat Al Barid, Al Judeira, Al Nabi Samwil, Beit Iksa, Beir Nabala, Shu'fat and Hizma, other than that, six Israeli settlements wraps Beit Hanina from several directions as shown in the following map.

Table two below illustrates the Israeli settlements surrounding Beit Hanina town.

Table two: The Israeli settlements surrounding Beit Hanina town.

Source: ARIJ Database 2006

House demolition in Beit Hanina

Beit Hanina town has been one of the towns repeatedly targeted by the Israeli house demolition policy under the pretext of building without licenses or on the account of the construction of the Segregation Wall.

On August 7, 2006, the Israeli bulldozers accompanied by Jerusalem Municipality officials stormed Bab El Hawa area in Beit Hanina town, and demolished three residential buildings each composed of two floors under the pretext of not having building licenses. The Israeli municipality officials accompanied by the Israeli border police declared the area closed, preventing any one from approaching the demolishing site. The targeted buildings belong to the inheritance of Isma'il Abu 'Arafa and accommodated more than 84 Palestinian inhabitants.

This case is an old-new one, six years ago the Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem handed the owners demolition notice for the buildings. The owners acted upon the demolition notice and started preparing their papers and documents in an attempt to get the proper licenses but the Municipality of Jerusalem denied their application. Furthermore, before two years, Jerusalem central court issued another order to demolish the buildings, which later on became obvious that it conform to plans for the Segregation Wall.

Even though the owners of the buildings submitted petitions to prove their ownership of the buildings, the Israeli court refused their claims and denied those building licenses.

Palestinian development = no license

When the Israeli Army seized the West Bank (including east Jerusalem) back in 1967, it encoded within its policy to restrict and exclude Palestinian neighborhoods development. Denial of building license to Palestinian has always been atypical reply to Palestinian applicants, something that forced Palestinian Jerusalemites to build houses at the risk of demolishing at any point later on by the Israeli Municipality.

It should be noted here, that the Israeli municipality rule in occupied east Jerusalem is invalid and illegal as stated clearly in numerous United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions (i.e. UNSC resolution 242, which regonices east Jerusalem as an occupied territory, meaning that the no Israeli civil laws are applied to areas regonized occupied which makes all decisions, resolutions and practices; taken and made by the Israeli municipality in east Jerusalem void and null.   

Conclusion

The Municipality of Jerusalem continues its construction of the Segregation Wall, house demolition and land razing in Jerusalem governorate particularly in its Eastern part. The Municipality has budgeted more than NIS 5 millions in order to demolish the Palestinian houses in Jerusalem during the year of 2005, which really reflect the only kind of budget the Israeli municipality is willing to allocate to Palestinian Jerusalemites, all to limit Palestinian construction and to end Palestinian existence in the city.

The policy of demolition of Palestinian houses in the Palestinian governorates was carried out unlawfully and is an act of collective punishment, breaching UN laws and Geneva conventions, (which Israel is a High Contracting Party of) specifically article 53 of 1949 which states: 'Any destruction by the occupying power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private person, or to the State, or to other public authorities, or to social or co-operative organizations, is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.'

Prepared by
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem
ARIJ