{"id":53736,"date":"2015-02-16T12:00:54","date_gmt":"2015-02-16T12:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=53736"},"modified":"2015-05-05T21:26:05","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T20:26:05","slug":"500-rabbis-urge-israel-to-stop-demolition-of-palestinian-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/02\/500-rabbis-urge-israel-to-stop-demolition-of-palestinian-homes\/","title":{"rendered":"500 Rabbis Urge Israel to Stop Demolition of Palestinian Homes"},"content":{"rendered":"

9 Feb 2015 – <\/em>Over 500 rabbis from Israel, Britain, the US and Canada have called on the Israeli prime minister to stop demolishing Palestinian homes. Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR) say Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s stance is against \u201cinternational law and Jewish tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"demolition-1<\/a>

A Palestinian girl walks past her family\u2019s house after it was demolished by Israeli bulldozers in Om Ajaj village, north of the West Bank city of Jericho (Reuters \/ Abed Omar Qusini)<\/p><\/div>\n

RHR\u2019s open letter came after the Israeli PM announced the destruction of over 400 Palestinian homes in the Israel-controlled part of the West Bank, the territory known as Area C.<\/p>\n

\u201cThousands have been forced to build without permits, and great human suffering is caused when hundreds of homes are demolished each year in Area C alone,\u201d RHR stated in their letter, adding that Israeli planning and zoning laws \u201cseverely restrict the ability of Palestinians to build homes, even on the lands that the State recognizes as belonging to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the rabbis, there has been \u201cno representation or true ability for Palestinians to determine how to properly plan for their communities since local and district planning committees were abolished in 1971. The army plans for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In late January, the United Nations accused Israel of illegally demolishing the homes of 77 Palestinians, including many children, in East Jerusalem and the districts of Ramallah, Jericho and Hebron.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past three days, 77 Palestinians, over half of them children, have been made homeless,\u201d the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement, adding that some of the demolished structures were provided by the international community to \u201csupport vulnerable families.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDemolitions that result in forced evictions and displacement run counter to Israel\u2019s obligations under international law and create unnecessary suffering and tension. They must stop immediately,\u201d the OCHA said.<\/p>\n

According to the UN office, during 2014 Israel carried out a record number of demolitions in East Jerusalem and Area C.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Israeli authorities destroyed 590 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C and East Jerusalem, displacing 1,177 people \u2014 the highest level of displacement in the West Bank since OCHA began systematically monitoring the issue in 2008.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Israel insists demolitions are carried out because homes are being built without construction permits, the UN\u2019s OCHA says the planning policies applied by Israeli authorities in Area C and East Jerusalem \u201cdiscriminate against Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palestinians are trapped in a vicious circle, where they build without permits to later have their homes razed to the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cPalestinians must have the opportunity to participate in a fair and equitable planning system that ensures their needs are met,\u201d the OCHA said.<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 falastinews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

9 Feb 2015 – Over 500 rabbis from Israel, Britain, the US and Canada have called on the Israeli prime minister to stop demolishing Palestinian homes. Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR) say Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s stance is against \u201cinternational law and Jewish tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53736\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}