HOME DEMOLITIONS IN 2006

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 000112

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NEA FOR FRONT OFFICE; NEA/IPA FOR
WILLIAMS/SHAMPAINE/STEINGER; NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WATERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/04/2026
TAGS: PREL KWBG PBTS KHUM KPAL IS
SUBJECT: HOME DEMOLITIONS IN 2006


Classified By: Consul General Jake Walles, per reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary. The Jerusalem Municipality demolished 81
structures, including 63 homes, in East Jerusalem for lack of
permits in 2006, according to a report released by the
Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD). Activists
from ICAHD and the Israeli human rights NGO Ir Amim argue
Palestinians build without legal permits because they cannot
afford them and/or cannot obtain them from the GOI
bureaucracy. End summary.

2006 Demolitions
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2. (C) According to a report released by ICAHD on January
16, the Jerusalem Municipality demolished 63 residential
structures and 18 other buildings in East Jerusalem for lack
of permits in 2006. According to ICAHD, the Israeli Interior
Ministry (which has parallel authority to enforce
planning/permit laws) demolished an additional 10 homes, and
builders dismantled 10 other homes with pending demolition
orders. These figures are slightly lower than the 2005
demolition statistics. (Note: These figures do not include
the approximately 250 homes destroyed in West Bank areas
adjacent to Jerusalem in 2006. There were no punitive
demolitions of the homes of suspected terrorists or criminals
in East Jerusalem in 2006. End note.)


3. (C) The Municipality demolished 36 additions, but no
houses, for lack of permits in West Jerusalem in 2006.
According to the ICAHD report, this is a slight decrease from
the number of structures demolished in West Jerusalem in
2005, when 39 additions were destroyed. The report notes that
85 demolition orders were signed for West Jerusalem during
that year, of which 45% were implemented. Of the 233 signed
demolition orders for structures in East Jerusalem, 191, or
85%, were implemented.


4. (C) According to Municipality documents that former
Jerusalem City Councilman Meir Margolit (protect) showed
Poloff, Jerusalem used its entire NIS 2,500,000 ($630,000)
demolition budget before the beginning of Ramadan in October
2006, but received a supplemental NIS 500,000 ($125,000)
allocation to continue demolitions until January.

Building Permits Difficult To Get
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5. (C) According to ICAHD and Ir Amim, most Palestinians in
Jerusalem are very unlikely to receive a building permit, and
few risk paying expensive filing, plan submission, design and
legal fees. Margolit said these fees start at about 20,000
USD for permits to build a 200 square meter, single-family
house, and rise significantly for larger or multi-unit
structures.


6. (C) Illegal building in East Jerusalem, according to
Danny Seidemann, founder of Ir Amim, and ICAHD coordinator
Jeff Halper, is not a political protest against Israeli law,
but a practical response to economic and governmental
barriers to legal building. Many East Jerusalem residents,
Seidemann said, cannot document land title due to poor
Ottoman- and Jordanian-era record keeping or comply with
increasingly stringent planning restrictions.


WALLES