Spotlight: Demolition of Palestinian homes fuel more hatred, bloodshed

Israeli authorities have demolished more Palestinian houses in the first half of 2016 than they have throughout the entire previous year, a human rights organization said Wednesday.

The report was compiled by B'Tselem, a human rights group advocating for Palestinians' rights in the occupied territories. It will be presented to the Israeli parliament on Wednesday, amid a conference on Israeli's policy in the West Bank.

According to the report, between January and June 2016, Israeli authorities have demolished 168 homes of Palestinians in the West Bank, leaving 740 Palestinians homeless.

In 2015, the report charges, Israeli authorities demolished 125 homes of Palestinian families, leaving 496 of them homeless.

The report also states that some residents had their houses demolished more than once.

The organization stated that overall in the recent decade, since the beginning of 2006 and up until June 30, 2016, at least 1,113 homes of West Bank Palestinians were demolished, turning approximately 5,200 Palestinians homeless.

According to B'Tselem, the demolitions were mostly carried out in "small, underprivileged communities", located far from Palestinian population centers, primarily in the Jordan Valley, South Hebron Hills and east of Jerusalem.

These demolitions took place in what is known since the 1995 Oslo Accords as Area C, West Bank territories that are under full Israeli civil and security control. Area C compromises 60 percent of the West Bank territories.

Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories, home to more than 5 million Palestinians, in the 1967 Mideast War.

"The Israeli authorities impose an impossible daily reality on Palestinian communities by repeatedly demolishing their homes, constantly threatening further demolition and other violations of their rights," the report authors' charged.

The report also charges that the extensive demolitions are part of an Israeli policy intended to "serve Israeli needs" and "establish facts on the ground" that would be hard to alter in any possible future agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

The demolition of houses mentioned in the report includes houses that were built without permits, the organization stated.

The figures do not include the demolition of homes of Palestinians who carried out attacks against Israelis. Israeli authorities stepped up the demolition of homes of attackers in the past several months amid a wave of unrest that started in October, claiming the lives of 34 Israelis and 219 Palestinians.

"This government policy, systematically implemented for years, constitutes the forcible transfer of Palestinians who are a protected population in an occupied territory, and as such breaches international humanitarian law," B'Tselem said in its report. Endit