UN and Palestinians warn West Bank demolitions could permanently displace hundreds
By Mohammed Tawfeeq, Dana Karni, CNN
(CNN) — Palestinian officials have warned of “forced displacement” after the Israeli military ordered a series of demolitions in the occupied West bank, citing security and “operational need.”
The Palestinian Refugee Affairs Department condemned the decision by the Israeli authorities to demolish 25 residential buildings in the Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem calling it ” blatant violation of international humanitarian law,” in a statement on Tuesday.
Calling on the international community to intervene, the department said “the systematic demolition policy in Nur Shams camp will lead to the forced displacement of dozens of families, as part of a plan aimed at emptying the Palestinian camps and erasing their existence, and imposing long-term control over them, as part of broader plans to annex the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”
The demolitions are set to be carried out as early as December 18, Director of UNRWA Affairs in the West Bank, Roland Friedrich said in a post on X on Monday.
The Israeli military said it “ordered the demolition of several structures,” in the camp “due to a clear and necessary operational need,” in a statement on Tuesday.
Friedrich called it “devastating news” saying those 25 buildings “now face imminent demolition,” which will be impacting “hundreds of forcibly displaced.”
“This new demolition order fits the pattern we have seen too often this year, with Israeli security forces destroying homes to enable their long-term control over the camps in the northern West Bank, permanently altering their topography,” Friedrich said.
The military order came just days after the Israeli cabinet approved the legalization and establishment of numerous settler outposts in the occupied West Bank, according to an Israeli source familiar with the matter. The decision authorizes 19 outposts across the West Bank, including two that were evacuated in the 2005 disengagement plan.
Peace Now, an Israeli settlement watchdog, said in response to the decision that “the government is doing everything it can to entrench Israel’s presence in the territories and to foreclose the possibility of a future of peace and two states for two peoples.”
Settlements are considered illegal under international law and by much of the international community. According to Peace Now, Israel’s current right-wing government has established 68 settlements since its term began in 2023, marking a dramatic acceleration and expansion of settlement activity.
The Israeli military said the decision to tear down buildings came after areas in northern West bank “have become a significant center of terrorist activity, operating from within densely populated civilian areas.”
“Accordingly, earlier this week, the Civil Administration notified residents that the IDF intends to demolish several structures in the Nur Shams area. Residents will be given the opportunity to evacuate their personal belongings,” the Israeli military added in the statement.
Friedrich said “the forced displacement of the more than 32,000 Palestine refugees in the northern West Bank must not become permanent. Residents have anxiously waited for eleven months to return home. With each blow of the bulldozers, this hope becomes ever more distant.”
The demolitions come amid sustained Israeli military operations in refugee camps in the northern West Bank, including Nur Shams, Tulkarm and Jenin. Israel says the operations are aimed at dismantling Palestinian militant networks and preventing attacks, while Palestinian officials and human rights groups argue that the measures collectively amount to forced displacement and collective punishment.
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CNN’s Oren Liebermann and Tal Shalev contributed to this report.
