Occupation and Demolition in the West Bank

From Middle East Online
WEST BANK - Israel demolished 208 buildings in the occupied West Bank last year, a UN agency said on Friday, adding that the Defence Ministry corrected its previous figure of 107.

Most of the houses were torn down under demolition orders issued because there were no construction permits, which Israeli authorities only seldom grant to Palestinians.

The buildings are located in the so-called Area C, which makes up more than 60 percent of the West Bank and is under full Israeli control.

"We have been informed that according to the records of the Israeli Ministry of Defence the number of structures demolished in Area C of the West Bank in 2007 is not 107, as reported earlier, but 208," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

In the first quarter of this year, Israeli authorities demolished 124 structures in the West Bank, the UN agency said.

Israel has been illegally occupying the Palestinian West Bank since 1967.