2nd LD Writethru: Israeli house demolitions in West Bank run counter to idea of peace: senior UN official

A senior UN official said here Thursday that 2016 saw a surge in Israeli house demolitions in occupied West Bank, and these actions "run directly counter to the idea of peace."

Nickolay Mladenov, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, made the statement as he was briefing the UN Security Council on the current situation in the Middle East.

"Since the beginning of 2016, Israel has demolished, on average, 29 Palestinian-owned structures per week, three times the weekly average for 2015," Mladenov said."These actions run directly counter to the idea of peace."

During the past few weeks alone, Israeli authorities in Area C and East Jerusalem demolished 201 Palestinian-owned structures including 79 which were donor-funded, he noted. "As a result, 320 people were displaced."

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-controlled Area C.

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.

"Israel's settlement enterprises continue to be an impediment to peace," Mladenov said. "While 2015 may have seen a slower overall pace for settlement planning and construction, the reality is that Israel continues to push forward the consolidation of its control of West Bank."

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.

"Several moves since the beginning of the year -- such as the classification of new 'state land' in the Jordan Valley and the approval of several plans in settlement -- also appear to point towards an increase in settlement activities," he said.

"We have voiced our common concern that the current trends on the ground -- including continued acts of violence against civilians, ongoing settlement activity, and the high rate of demolitions of Palestinian structures -- are dangerously imperiling the viability of a two-state solution," he said.

"Collective international efforts to help establish a political horizon will all be for naught, absent genuine Israeli and Palestinian motivation to address the chronic realities endangering the two-state solution."

The two-state solution, widely backed by the international community, means a secure State of Israel to live in peace with an independent State of Palestine. Enditem