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Senior UN official urges Israel to halt demolitions in occupied West Bank

Xinhua, February 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

The UN humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory, Robert Piper, has urged Israel to halt demolitions in the occupied West Bank immediately and to respect international law, a UN spokesman told reporters here Thursday.

Piper said that the number of demolitions for just the first six weeks of 2016 is "greatly alarming," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here. "More than 400 Palestinians have been displaced from their homes -- equivalent to over half the total number of Palestinians displaced in all of 2015."

"Palestinians in the West Bank have the right to adequate housing and the right to receive humanitarian assistance," Dujarric said, quoting Piper. "As the occupying power, Israel is obliged to respect these rights."

For his part, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, spoke to the press in Gaza and again expressed his concerns about the detention of Mohammed al-Qeiq, the first hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner who was reported to be force-fed in late January.

According to the United Nations, between Jan. 1 and Feb. 15, Israeli forces destroyed, dismantled or confiscated 283 homes and other structures, displacing 404 Palestinians, including 219 children, and affecting another 1,150 Palestinians, who lost structures related to their source of income.

More than 100 of the demolished structures were already provided as humanitarian assistance to families in need, often in the wake of an earlier demolition. These incidents reportedly occurred in 41 Palestinian locations, many in Palestinian Bedouin or herder communities in Israeli-controled Area C.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has noted that the Israeli zoning and planning policy in the West Bank is "restrictive and discriminatory." Under international humanitarian law, the destruction of property in an occupied territory is also prohibited unless absolutely necessary for military operations.

Last Thursday, Israeli military forces demolished 42 barns in the West Bank's Northern Valleys, reports said.

The peace talks between Israel and Palestine have been stalled since April 2014. The U.S.-sponsored talks that lasted for nine months achieved no tangible results. Endit