Public Urgent Action November 2007 AI Index: ACT 60/022/2007

In Focus

An insight into the stories behind UAs

"No more construction permits for "

The fight to build a village school

Palestinian children of Upper Fasayil village standing in the school building that their local community is constructing. © Brighton-Tubas solidarity group

International attention is focusing on school may be decided has been the West Bank village of Fasayil, as postponed to the end of December. the Israeli army is soon due to decide whether to demolish a The threatened demolition affects scores primary school, currently being built of Palestinian primary school children in the village. Activists around the who are being denied the opportunity to world are uniting to protect the have a school near their homes. The school from demolition. A military primary school is being built in Upper meeting at which the future of the Fasayil, in the region of the West Bank, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), and is at risk of of a growing population are used by the demolition even before it is finished. Israeli army as a basis for rejecting Palestinians’ applications for building Motivated by the fact that the children of permits. The permit application process is Upper Fasayil currently have to walk prolonged, complicated and costly, and more than two kilometres to go to a permission is invariably refused. school in Lower Fasayil, the local Palestinians are therefore left with no community are constructing the new option but to build their homes without school with the support of a Palestinian permits. For decades, the Israeli non-governmental organization and authorities have responded by adopting a international volunteers. policy of mass demolition of Palestinian houses. On 17 October, the Israeli army issued an order instructing all building work on At the same time has built some the school to be stopped. The military 150 settlements (colonies which are for order states that the concerned parties the exclusive use of Jewish Israelis) on can request a building permit from the Palestinian land throughout the West planning committee of the Israeli army. Bank. International law prohibits an However, it is virtually impossible for occupying power from transferring its Palestinians to obtain any building civilian population into the territory that permits from the Israeli army in most it occupies. These unlawful settlements areas of the West Bank, including in have been established by taking Fasayil and other villages in the Jordan Palestinian land and by impeding Valley region of the West Bank. In 2003, Palestinians from using their land for Israeli army legal adviser Colonel Shlomo building or agriculture, as is happening in Politus told the Constitution, Justice and Fasayil and many other villages. Law Committee of the Israeli Parliament that "practically speaking, [building by Palestinians in the Jordan Valley region of the West Bank] doesn’t exist as an issue. There are no more construction permits for Palestinians.”

When the inhabitants of Fasayil discussed whether to build the school, they were aware there was a risk that the Israeli army would prevent them from building it or would destroy it once it was built, but they decided to go ahead with the Children from Upper Fasayil outside the project in the hope that the school would school © Brighton-Tubas solidarity group be allowed and out of a desire to provide a facility which would improve the lives According to the Oslo Accords of 1993 of the children. The army meeting at the (the first peace agreement between end of December may decide the fate of Israel and the Palestinians), Israel gave the school. the newly established Palestinian

Authority (PA) responsibility for civil The West Bank is part of the OPT, which affairs (including building permits) in has been under Israeli military 40% of the West Bank territory, but occupation since 1967. The Israeli army Israel retained military and civil control froze the planning schemes in Palestinian of the remaining 60% of the West Bank towns and villages. Planning schemes (known as ), which includes the which existed before 1967 and which are Jordan Valley. The Israeli army continues no longer suitable to cater for the needs

2 to ban Palestinians from building in these demolished them but instead issued areas. retroactive building permits for these houses and for entire settlements Fasayil residents, like the residents of established without government many other villages of the Jordan Valley, authorization. The existence of these are therefore forced to live in shacks and Israeli settlements and related tents as the current infrastructure cannot infrastructure in the occupied West Bank keep up with the needs of the population. results in widespread violations of the Yet, even these shacks and tents are not rights of the Palestinian population, such spared by the Israeli army's bulldozers. as freedom of movement and access to For example on 9 February 2006 the UN water. Palestinians living in the Jordan Office for the Coordination of Valley have been particularly severely Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported impacted as Israeli authorities have that the Israeli army had demolished 15 effectively turned this large area of fertile sheds in Fasayil which were reportedly land into an enclave, taken over by 36 built without permits. On 8 September unlawful Israeli settlements and closed 2005 OCHA also reported that the Israeli military areas used by the Israeli army as army had demolished 14 shelters (tents firing practice grounds. and shacks) in Fasayil and al Jiftlik (another village in the Jordan Valley) for Since May 2005, the Israeli army has the same reason. These shelters, which imposed further restrictions on the had been provided to the villagers by the Palestinians living in the Jordan Valley. International Committee of the Red Cross Palestinians whose identity documents do (ICRC), were home to 89 people. not give the northern Jordan Valley as their place of residence are not allowed Thousands of Palestinian homes and to live in the Jordan Valley and are often other property have been destroyed by prevented from even visiting the area. the Israeli army since the beginning of Demolition of villagers’ homes and the 2000, and tens of thousands of increased restrictions imposed on their Palestinians have lost their homes or movements and on their access to water their livelihoods (see AI's report: Under – a crucial commodity for the villagers the rubble, House demolition and who depend on farming for subsistence - destruction of property MDE have been widely used by the Israeli 15/040/2004 ). At the same time, while army as means to force the Palestinian the Israeli army prohibits Palestinians population to leave the Jordan Valley. from building and demolishes their Under such pressures many Palestinians, homes for lack of building permits, the particularly the young, are being forced Israeli authorities have developed to leave the Jordan Valley. comprehensive and efficient planning schemes for some 150 unlawful Israeli Amnesty International is one of a number settlements – housing some 400,000 of organizations highlighting the situation settlers - that they have established in Fasayil, and calling on the Israeli throughout the occupied West Bank. authorities to halt plans to demolish the Much of the farmland previously owned school. by the inhabitants of Fasayil has been appropriated by the unlawful Israeli For more information see AI's report settlements of and Bet Syel, Enduring Occupation: Palestinians destroying the Palestinian villagers’ under Siege in the West Bank, MDE traditional livelihood. 15/033/2007. To take action on this case, contact Moreover, in the thousands of cases in [email protected], or your which Israeli houses have been built section office. without permits, the Israeli army has not

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