Unprecedented number of Palestinian home demolitions

Palestinian school being demolished

The West Bank has endured an unprecedented number of demolitions during the first part of 2016, leaving an average of 45 Palestinian people homeless every week. Demolitions have included not only homes, but a school for Bedouin children and structures vital to the income of Palestinians.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories at the end of March, the total number of demolitions this year equalled 465, which is only marginally less than the total for the whole of 2015 (521). In the last week of March, 95 Palestinians were left homeless due to demolitions in Khirbet Tana and Hebron.

On Monday 4 April, seven homes were destroyed over a 24 hour period, three of them belonging to the families of three Palestinian men who were gunned down after they killed an Israeli soldier near Damascus gate in February. In a move dubbed as 'collective punishment' by Palestinian leaders, the families were left homeless and clashes broke out in Qabatiya in response. Five Palestinians were injured after being shot by rubber-coated steel bullets, and rushed to hospital in Jenin.

A sample letter to protest the demolitions can be found on the website of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICHAD UK).

http://icahduk.org/2016/03/05/take-action-now-write-to-your-mp/