{"id":178788,"date":"2021-02-08T12:00:02","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T12:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=178788"},"modified":"2024-06-12T21:24:46","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T20:24:46","slug":"senior-officials-call-on-israel-to-halt-west-bank-demolitions-and-respect-international-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/02\/senior-officials-call-on-israel-to-halt-west-bank-demolitions-and-respect-international-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior Officials Call on Israel to Halt West Bank Demolitions and Respect International Law"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

5 Feb 2021 – Three high-level UN officials today issued a statement calling for Israel to end demolitions in the occupied West Bank, after meeting with members of a Bedouin community ousted from their homes earlier this week in the northern Jordan Valley, while their belongings were \u201cseized or destroyed\u201d.\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A boy in the Bedouin refugee community of Um al Khayr in the South Hebron Hills where large scale home demolitions by Israeli authorities took place. (file) UNRWA<\/p><\/div>\n

After their meeting with the Palestinian Bedouins from Humsa al Bqai\u2019a on Thursday, Sarah Muscroft, head of the UN\u2019s humanitarian agency in the occupied territory, James Heenan, head of the UN Human Rights Office (OCHA<\/a>) there and Lucia Elmi, UNICEF<\/a> Special Representative in Palestine, issued a statement<\/a> calling for demolitions to be halted, and international law respected.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

\u201cSixty people, including 35 children, were displaced from their homes and their belongings seized or destroyed by Israeli forces\u201d, according to the UN representatives.<\/p>\n

Among items seized were tents provided as humanitarian assistance following an earlier demolition in November of\u202f83 other structures<\/a>; the largest single demolition since 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe demolitions and confiscations were carried out after the families were verbally ordered to leave the area, although the community has made it clear they want to remain\u201d, the statement said.<\/p>\n

As the community had already rejected relocation proposals and even appealed to the courts for help, the UN officials observed that they are being pressured to move \u2013 raising \u201ca real risk\u201d of forcible transfer, which is a breach of international law.<\/p>\n

\n

Our head of office, Sarah Muscroft, in Humsa al Bqai\u2019a yesterday pic.twitter.com\/fNdocwni2k<\/a><\/p>\n

— OCHA oPt (Palestine) (@ochaopt) February 5, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n