UN : Israel’s Excessive Demolitions in Qalandiya Undermines West Bank Development

Al-Quds, 23 Syawwal 1437/28 July 2016 (MINA) – United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, said on Wednesday that Israel’s recent home demolitions in Qalandiya refugee camp near Jerusalem reflect Israel’s systematic policy of denying Palestinian development in the occupied West Bank.

“Two days ago, I issued a statement strongly condemning the advancement of plans for settlement units in Gilo and efforts to re-establish an outpost near Hebron. Since then, demolitions have taken place in Qalandiya and occupied East Jerusalem that reflect Israel’s systematic policy of denying Palestinian development in the occupied West Bank,” WAFA quoted Mladenov as saying in a statement.

“This challenge was highlighted by the recently published Middle East Quartet Report which concluded that “the continuing policy of settlement construction and expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, designation of land for exclusive Israeli use, and denial of Palestinian development, including the recent high rate of demolitions, is steadily eroding the viability of the two-state solution.”

For months the UN has been warning that there has been a significant increase in the number of Palestinian structures demolished across the West Bank.

This was particularly visible in the first four months of 2016, with some 500 demolitions of Palestinian structures by the Israeli authorities and nearly 800 Palestinians displaced, more than in all of 2015. In East Jerusalem, 64 Palestinian structures were demolished from January to June of 2016. Vulnerable Bedouin and farming communities are most heavily impacted by these demolitions.

The United States, the Russian Federation, the EU and the UN, as part of the Middle East Quartet, jointly called on Israel “to cease the policy of settlement construction and expansion, designating land for exclusive Israeli use, and denying Palestinian development”.

“I reiterate this call as such actions are dangerously imperiling the two-state solution.” (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)