Israeljustice.com
Date added: 5/6/2009
www.israeljustice.com/news2.asp?key=167

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli government has allowed illegal Arab construction
in all areas of the W. Bank while continuing to destroy illegal Jewish
outposts.
A recent report by the Civil Administration said that the army and the
police have routinely enforced demolition orders against illegal Jewish
structures but have frozen all demolition orders on illegal Arab structures.
The Civil Administration is a branch of the army which is responsible for
supervising both Jewish and Arab construction in the West Bank,
"The Israeli sector is under much more heavy supervision and scrutiny
than the Palestinian sector and this is because of the high level of
sensitivity and policy of enforcement," the report said. "From the month of
March 2008, there has been a total freeze on enforcement [of demolition of
illegal Arab structures] in the Palestinian sector."
The report shows that 36 percent or 105 out of 293 illegally built
structures owned by Jews in the West Bank were destroyed in 2008. In
contrast, only 17 percent or 111 out of 646 Arab-owned structures illegally
built on private Jewish land or State land or survey lands were destroyed.
Survey land is land that the State of Israel has not yet claimed but the
land does not belong to Arabs. Still, Jewish regional councils in Judea and
Samaria have said that illegal Arab construction, including Arab
agricultural projects, are taking over survey lands as well as State land.
The Movement for the Protection of National Lands said that the European
Union supports charity organizations like the British-based "Oxfam" in
supplying Arabs with farming equipment and building materials to take over
land in the West Bank. Movement officials said this phenomenon was
especially prevalent in the areas between Bethlehem and Hebron in the Jewish
Gush Etzion bloc of settlements and near Jewish communities in the southern
Hebron Hills.
"There are tens of [charity] organizations that are active and work hand
in hand with the Palestinians," Oved Arad of the Movement for the Protection
of National Lands said. "They build on lands which belong to the State,
including land that is used for military exercises. They pave roads and
prepare land for farming. They have no license for this. The Civil
Administration doesn't do anything at all. If you go to speak to the
officials, they say it's a directive coming from higher authorities."
The Civil Administration report cites the numerous demolitions -- at
least six times -- of some of the Jewish outposts, including Nezer, located
in Gush Etzion and Maoz Esther, located in Samaria and Hazon David near
Hebron while citing a substantial drop in illegal Arab construction in 2008.
"An analysis of the 2008 data points to a clear trend of increased
activity in light construction, additions to existing structures and the
building of caravans in the [Judea and Samaria] areas," the report said.
"...And this is on a background of a decrease in irregularities on private
land and definitely in Palestinian areas."
Whereas the Civil Administration report cites the violation of building
orders among Jews, it does not record similar violations in the Palestinian
sector.
"A large portion of the reports of irregularities deal with violation of
[Civil Administration] orders," the report said. "Obviously, these reports
do not affect the number of illegal structures in an outpost or a
settlement."