The demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank has been increasing at a rapid pace, during the time of US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, according to data from the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs, local media reported.
In Biden’s 13 months in office; Israeli officials carried out the demolition of 1,000 structures and more than 1,300 Palestinians, the majority of them children, have been displaced. The data consists of each permanent closure or destruction of residential or commercial property, or a large portion of infrastructures such as water pipes, roads and network facilities.
As per media reports, under President Donald Trump and former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli officials carried out the demolition of 379 structures that displaced nearly 600 Palestinians — less than half the casualties Biden and Bennett have overseen so far.
In 2021, the number of demolitions carried out by Israel against Palestinians has risen to 907; it is the second highest level ever after 2016 when 1,094 demolitions were carried out under President Barack Obama while Americans were busy with the presidential election.
Since the beginning of 2022, more than 145 Palestinian structures have been demolished, and experts say these numbers are likely to be an underestimate, given that some events take time to report or not at all.
The Israeli occupation continues to demolish Palestinian homes and property in the occupied Palestinian territories under the pretext that they were built without a license, which the occupying power itself places obstacles in front of it.
Israeli settler attacks have been escalating – both in frequency and ferocity – since 2014. However, residents and observers say that over the past few months, and particularly since the recent Palestinian protests since mid-April 2021, the Israeli army has been using settlers as a tool to further repress Palestinians.
The Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which Israel also seized in that war. Israel claims that the entire city of Jerusalem is its indivisible capital.
More than 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Israel took control of the West Bank in 1967 and established settlements on it, which are considered in violation of international law.
