House Demolitions

I dont think the recently released orders for house demolitions in East Jerusalem have gotten much attention in the international media. Basically, orders are issued to demolish houses in E. Jerusalem for all sorts of administrative reasons-from building without a permit, to not paying an outrageous fee. There are also punitive house demolitions, as is carried out against terrorists' families, but that's a different issue.

"The planning policy in East Jerusalem since its annexation in 1967 is affected by political considerations and infected by systematic discrimination against the Palestinians living there. While extensive building and enormous budget allocations have been the rule in Jewish neighborhoods, the Israeli government has choked development and building for the Palestinian population." --read more on B'Tselem's website.

House's demolished, from B'Tselem's website.

Neighborhood	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	Total
'Issawiya	6	1	0	11	0	18
Old City	1	0	0	2	4	7
Beit Hanina	2	1	9	8	19	39
Abu Tor	0	0	0	0	4	4
Jabel Mukhaber	2	0	1	1	9	13
Ras al-'Amud	2	3	4	1	3	13
A-Tur	1	0	1	0	3	5
Shu'afat	3	3	17	3	6	32
Sheikh Jarakh	0	1	0	1	1	3
Silwan	0	0	0	2	10	12
Zur Baher	0	0	0	7	4	11
Total Palestinian buildings demolished	17	9	32	36	63	157
Total Jewish buildings demolished	4	6	6	13	1	30

It's an important issue, so here are some articles:

How archaeology is used to justify demolishing Palestinian houses:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1074321.html

Ir Amim provides a lot of documents on this issue:
http://www.ir-amim.org.il/eng/?CategoryID=254