Europe News Desk!! A European Union (EU) report says that Israeli authorities will demolish 953 Palestinian homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 2022, the highest number in seven years. More than 80 percent of the demolished buildings are located in Area C, and 28,446 people have been displaced and affected by the demolition, said the report released Tuesday by the European Union Mission in the Palestinian Territories. The demolition was carried out under the pretext of building without permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain in Area C and East Jerusalem, the report said. It added that the demolition also included buildings in areas classified as A and B on punitive grounds. The Oslo Accords between Israel and Palestine in the 1990s classified the West Bank into three zones – Areas A, B and C.
Area A is under full control of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Area B is jointly controlled by the PA and Israel, while Area C is under full Israeli security control. The EU report states that 101 of the demolished buildings were funded by the EU or its member states to the value of 337,000 euros. At Israel’s request, the number of buildings demolished by their owners in East Jerusalem was increased from 34 percent in 2021 to 51 percent in 2022. Israeli officials have not commented on the EU report.
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