Talk:Israeli demolition of Palestinian property

Arutz Sheva as a source
I am confident the editors can find a better source for the claim that home demolitions are a deterrent. While this issue is contested, there must be stronger sources that argue for the deterrence theory. Whatever your personal feelings are, I advise editors to prefer the most persuasive and authoritative sources available - Arutz Sheva is not one of these. Seraphimsystem (talk)

Clear up of old material
This very dated material (15 years old) is moved from the article here in case it should ever be of use:-

According to the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem:


 * From October 2001 to December 2005, Israel has demolished 668 homes as punishment, leaving 4,182 people homeless.
 * Israel has demolished 1,746 homes for alleged military purposes since B'Tselem started keeping statistics in this category in 2004.
 * According to the UN, about 1,500 homes were demolished by the IDF in the Rafah area in the period 2000–2004.

In November 2008, B'Tselem filmed an armed Israeli Policeman wearing a riot helmet headbutt a Palestinian women. The confrontation occurred during a protest, after the Jerusalem municipality destroyed two houses because it said they were built without permission.

Demolitions
Statistics have been compiled by ICAHD recording the number of demolitions of existing houses in the two parts of Jerusalem. According to ICAHD, there are many more building violations in the western (Jewish) parts of Jerusalem, but the great majority of actual demolitions are carried out in the eastern (Palestinian) parts. ICAHD statistics on house demolitions in Jerusalem were cited in the "2005 County Reports on Human Rights Practices" by the United States Department of State. For 2004 and 2005 ICAHD's figures are as follows:

ICAHD's report further claims that building inspectors record only a small proportion of the infractions in West Jerusalem (usually illegal extensions or porches), and say that no entire residential building in the Western section has ever received demolition orders or been demolished. ICAHD claims that: "The Jerusalem Municipality expropriates land, prevents preparation of a town planning scheme for Palestinian neighborhoods, and refuses to grant building permits, causing a severe housing shortage, forcing residents to build without a permit, after which the Ministry of Interior and the Municipality demolish the houses, so the residents move into homes outside the city, and then the Ministry of Interior revokes their residency and banishes them from the city forever".

ICAHD's conclusions have been disputed by the Israeli Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, who argue on their website that the larger number of Palestinian demolitions is simply because many more Palestinian homes have been built illegally. They claim to have "document[ed] a pattern of politically- [sic]motivated behavior and criminal profiteering that characterizes much of the construction in the Arab sector of the Holy City", notwithstanding the punitive house demolitions, which have been effective as a deterrent against terrorism by means of a 'significant decrease' Palestinian terrorists attacks.

Permits
Statistics quoted by CAMERA and FMEP:

Though the statistics do not show the nationality of the permit requestee nor the nationality of the land owner, CAMERA argues that these figures show that the denial of permits to Arabs and Jews is not based on the ethnicity of the applicant, but instead is generally meant to uphold Israeli master plans and building codes.

In contrast, Amnesty International highlight in these figures the small number of Palestinian permit requests (only about 10 percent of the Israeli requests), and argue that this is indicative of the tiny (and ever-shrinking) percentage of land that the Palestinians have available for their use. In 2008 Nicoletta Dimova wrote in the Palestine-Israel Journal that "today, the city's Palestinians are only allowed to build on about 9% of the 17,600 acres of land comprising East Jerusalem", the remainder having been expropriated by Israeli authorities for use by Israeli settlers or as land where Israel currently permits no construction.

Detached sentence in the "In favour" section
In the list in the In favour section of Justification and criticism, it currently states:

"The following types are labeled as "precautionary demolitions" by Benmelech, Berrebi and Klor, however punishing they may feel to the impacted families."

Tha sentence seems detached:


 * What "following types"?
 * Who are Benmelech, Berrebi and Klor? - A bit if googling suggests their common trait is being scholars; if that's the point, it should be in the sentence.

Overall, I think the sentence doesn't provide value in the article, but causes confusion; so I suggest we remove the item from the "In favour" list.

Troels Arvin (talk) Troels Arvin (talk) 11:19, 25 February 2024 (UTC)
 * IT refers to the following bullet points, which I have indented a level to clarify this. All the best: Rich Farmbrough 13:44, 27 March 2024 (UTC).

Removed from criticism section
"According to the UN, about 1,500 homes were demolished by the IDF just in the Rafah area in the period 2000–2004. "

This, if needed, should go in the history section, which is currently a terrible mess. The word "just" should be removed, these types of weasel words are a plague on articles of this type.

All the best: Rich Farmbrough 13:44, 27 March 2024 (UTC).

edit request
change: Israel blew up 103 houses in 1987 to: Israel demolished 103 houses in 1987 79.176.174.2 (talk) 09:28, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
 * ✅ Probably many were done by bulldozer rather than explosives. Zerotalk 10:41, 7 May 2024 (UTC)