Israël : L’administration empêche toute construction palestinienne

Pendant des décennies, Israël a eu recours à une pla­ni­fi­cation et une poli­tique de construction en Cis­jor­danie qui rejette presque entiè­rement toute construction pales­ti­nienne. Dans le même temps, il a alloué des vastes étendues de terres pour établir et agrandir des colonies juives. Israël a ainsi créé une situation dans laquelle des mil­liers de Pales­ti­niens sont inca­pables d’obtenir un permis de construire sur leurs terres afin de construire des abris pour leurs familles, ne leur laissant pas d’autre choix que de construire sans permis.

Texte original en anglais :

For decades, Israel has employed a planning, deve­lopment, and building policy in the West Bank almost entirely denies Pales­tinian construction. At the same time, it has allo­cated broad expanses of land to esta­blish and expand Jewish set­tle­ments. Israel has thus created a situation in which thou­sands of Pales­ti­nians are unable to obtain permits to build on their land and provide shelter for their families, leaving them no option but to build without a permit.

In the Oslo Agree­ments, the West Bank was divided into three areas, Areas A, B, and C . Areas A and B, which com­prise 40 percent of West Bank, come within the planning and building authority of the Pales­tinian Authority. This land, however, is essen­tially the built-​​up area of existing towns and vil­lages. Area C, the remaining 60 percent, is wholly controlled by Israel, including planning and building matters. Area C is home to some 150,000 Pales­ti­nians, who live in 149 towns and vil­lages, and almost all the land reserves of the Pales­tinian com­mu­nities, including those of Areas A and B, are located there. The Civil Admi­nis­tration has adopted a policy not to issue building permits to Pales­ti­nians in these areas, and does not provide a planning solution for Pales­tinian land development.

In recent weeks, the Civil Admi­nis­tration has increased its action against Pales­tinian building in Area C, contending that the construction was illegal. As noted, building legally is almost impos­sible for Pales­ti­nians. Some examples of the Civil Administration’s actions follow.

El-​​Bireh Stadium

In 1996, the muni­ci­pality of El-​​Bireh, which is located next to Ramallah, built the National Pales­tinian Stadium on land lying within the muni­cipal borders of the town, but in Area C. In 2006, the stadium was improved and the fini­shing touches are cur­rently being made to conform it to meet the standard required for inter­na­tional football matches. The stadium, which cost approxi­mately € 3 million, was built with the financial assis­tance of France, the German Deve­lopment Bank, the UN Deve­lopment Agency, and FIFA, the inter­na­tional football fede­ration. In mid-​​October, the Civil Administration’s Supreme Planning Council issued stop-​​work orders on the construction, an unusual step since the Civil Admi­nis­tration had not pre­viously inter­fered in the town’s planning matters, leaving the muni­ci­pality the powers to ini­tiate and approve building pro­jects in areas within its borders. Shortly after­wards, the P’sagot set­tlement, which is situated a few hundred meters from the stadium, and the Regavim Orga­ni­zation peti­tioned the High Court of Justice. The peti­tioners demanded that the stadium be demo­lished, arguing that it had been built without a permit and that it “signi­fi­cantly increases security pro­blems” in the area. The muni­ci­pality has, for the time being, ceased construction work on the stadium.

Kafr ‘Aqab

In late October, Civil Admi­nis­tration ins­pectors served stop-​​work orders on construction work being done on nine houses in Kafr ‘Aqab, a village located north of Jeru­salem. 15 families live in the houses. Most of the village lies within the boun­daries of the Jeru­salem Muni­ci­pality, but since that portion lies east of the Sepa­ration Barrier, the muni­ci­pality pro­vides almost no ser­vices to the village. The remaining village land lies in Area C. In the same area, the Civil Admi­nis­tration had pre­viously issued stop-​​work orders on twenty other buil­dings, and the area contains dozens of other buil­dings. The Jeru­salem Muni­ci­pality, like the Civil Admi­nis­tration, has never pre­pared an outline plan enabling deve­lopment of the village.

Khirbet Umm al-​​Kheir

In early November, Civil Admi­nis­tration ins­pectors issued 11 stop-​​work orders on all construction in the Beduin com­munity of Khirbet Umm al-​​Kheir, which lies in the sou­thern Hebron hills. Resi­dents of the village, most of whom are refugees of 1948, arrived in the village in the 1970s after having been forced to leave their homes in the area of Arad. In 1981, the Carmel set­tlement was built adjacent to the village. The buil­dings on which the stop-​​work orders were issued lie in two sec­tions that border the set­tlement on the east, and are built on private Pales­tinian land or on Survey Land (land whose ownership has not been decided). About six months ago, the Civil Admi­nis­tration demo­lished four sheds and two stone houses in the village.

Rujeib

In mid-​​November, Civil Admi­nis­tration ins­pectors issued stop-​​work orders on 12 struc­tures in Rujeib, a village sou­theast of Nablus. Five of the homes, which lie on the sou­thern edge of the village, were already inha­bited. Another six, and a chicken coop, were under construction.

The Civil Administration’s intensive enfor­cement activity vio­lates Israel’s obli­gation, as the occu­pying power, to meet the planning needs of the Pales­ti­nians, and breaches the Fourth Geneva Convention, which permits the occu­pying power to destroy the pro­perty of civi­lians only when an impe­rative military need exists.