UN, European states call on Israel to halt demolitions

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations and European members of the Security Council on Saturday called on Israel to stop demolitions of Bedouin settlements in the Jordan Valley, and for humanitarian access to the community living in Humsa Al-Baqaia.

In a joint statement at the end of a monthly session of the Security Council on the conflict in the Middle East, Estonia, France, Ireland, Norway and Britain said they were “deeply concerned at the recent repeated demolitions and confiscation of items, including of EU and donor funded structures carried out by Israeli authorities at Humsa Al-Bqaia in the Jordan Valley.”

It said the concern was also focused on the 70 people or so living in the Bedouin community, including 41 children.

“We reiterate our call on Israel to halt demolitions and confiscations,” the statement said. “We further call on Israel to allow full, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access to the community in Humsa Al-Baqaia.”

Humsah al-Baqia sits in the Jordan Valley, a fertile and strategic patch of land that runs from Lake Tiberias to the Dead Sea, which has emerged as a flashpoint in the struggle over the West Bank.

It is in the West Bank’s so-called Area C, occupied Palestinian territory that remains under full Israeli military control.

Under Israeli military law, Palestinians cannot build structures in the area without permits, which are typically refused, and demolitions are common.

The UN envoy for the region, Norwegian Tor Wennesland, also voiced his concerns over the demolitions and land confiscations.

He said Israel security forces had “demolished or confiscated 80 structures” in the Bedouin community “in an Israeli declared firing zone in the Jordan Valley.”

He said that the actions had “displaced 63 people, including 36 children multiple times, and followed a similar demolition in November 2020.”

“I urge Israel to cease the demolition and seizure of Palestinian property throughout the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and to allow Palestinians to develop their communities,” he said. The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, has called on the Israeli regime to put an end to its policies of demolition of Palestinian-owned homes and seizure of Palestinian properties throughout the occupied West Bank, and to allow Palestinians to develop their own communities.

The appeal came after a briefing to the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East said Israeli authorities had demolished or seized 170 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and 10 in East Jerusalem al-Quds, displacing some 314 Palestinians, including 67 women and 177 children in February and last Novemeber.Israel occupied East al-Quds , the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – besieged since 2007 – during the six-day Arab-Israeli war in 1967.

Shortly after capturing East Jerusalem al-Quds, the Tel Aviv regime expanded the municipal boundaries of the city to take in large areas of land on which it later constructed settlements.

At the same time, it sharply limited the expansion of Palestinian neighborhoods, forcing many in the increasingly crowded areas to build illegally. More than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

The UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.