The situation, of course, is not that cut-and-dried as I will be the first to admit. Nevertheless, yuou should be aware of some of the last stats via Aaron Lerner of IMRA:-
7,380 approved demolition orders against Palestinians not implemented
Date: 13 January 2006
Hatzofeh newspaper Correspondent Chagai Huberman reports today that as of now there are no less than 7,380 demolition orders against illegally built homes built by Palestinians in the West Bank filed by the Israeli Civil Authority and approved by the courts that have not been carried out.
In addition, Huberman notes, the Civil Authority has initiated a program under which Palestinians [but not Israelis] can apply for the head of the Civil Authority to waive the demolition orders on both legal and such humanitarian grounds as : the person invested all his savings in the house, the head of the household has many children, etc.
With regard to illegal construction inside the Green Line, Huberman reports that data from the Ministry of Interior shows that during the period
2003-2004 alone no less than 352 illegal Bedouin outposts were built in the Negev.
Huberman notes that the Arab MKs were rewarded for voting in favor of the retreat from Gaza and northern Samaria by the approval of the hook-up of hundreds of illegal Bedouin outposts in the Negev to electricity.
And David Bedein has this:
Israeli Ethnic discrimination: Arbitrary enforcement of the law in Israel?
Over the years, Israel has coped with homes and neighborhoods that were established without proper authorization or legal permits.
In 1984, the Israel Ministry of Housing issued a report that over 10,000 homes were illegally constructed by Israeli Arab residents on the Acre-Tzfat road.
1984 was an election year in Israel. Ezer Weitzman, running with Benyamin Ben Eliezer on the Yachad Party ticket, campaigned in the Arab sector and promised to legalize these homes if elected.
After the July 1984 election, in which Labor and Likud were essentially tied in the number of seats, the YACHAD Party, with its three seats, entered the coalition on the condition that the 10,000 homes be legalized. And that is what happened.
In early 2003, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, headed by former UN Ambassador Dore Gold, issued a position paper which documented are more than 6,000 illegal and unauthorized homes built in Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem. That study, authored by human rights lawyer Justus Reid Weiner, a scholar-in-residence at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, can be located at:
The question remains: Will the government of Israel only demolish Jewish neighborhoods that have been constructed without proper permits? Is that not arbitrary enforcement of the law against only one ethnic group, while another ethnic group is allowed to flaunt the law?
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