Just the Facts: Building Permit Discrimination
Just the Facts: Building Permit Discrimination
- Israel’s Civil Administration (CA) rejects almost all building permit applications submitted by Palestinians.
- Applications are often simply ignored.
- A permit can’t be approved without an approved local planning scheme. As of 2017, the CA had approved plans for less than 1% of Area C.
- In 70% of Area C Palestinian construction is prohibited.
- This land has been declared state land, set aside for nature reserves and national parks, used for military bases and firing zones, allocated to Jewish settlements, or prohibited for construction as it lies trapped between the apartheid wall and the Green Line.
- In 29% of Area C Palestinian construction is heavily restricted.
- 1% of Area C is planned for Palestinian development.
- Between 2010 and 2014 only 33 of 2,020 building permits applied for by Palestinians were approved—a meager 1.5%
- The primary reason given for home demolitions is that construction occurred without a permit.
- From March to August 2020, in the midst of the COVID pandemic, demolitions spiked, averaging 65 per month, the highest average destruction rate in four years.
This week’s Just the Facts comes from:
- OCHA’s “Under Threat: Demolition Orders in Area C of the West Bank”
- Norwegian Refugee Council’s “Legal Memo: Applying for a Building Permit in East Jerusalem”
- B’Tselem’s “Planning and Building”
- Human Rights Watch’s “Israel and Palestine”
Learning MoreYou can start with our original entry on building permit discrimination with Tent of Nations. And because building permit discrimination is closely linked to subsequent home demolitions, our entry with ICAHD is also quite appropriate. And in April we will have a week focused on home demolitions. That entry is now available on the website.