July 17th, 2018

This report, prepared by the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC), presents a summary of the demolitions carried out by Israeli occupation authorities in occupied Jerusalem during the first six months of 2018. According to JLAC’s data, Israeli occupation authorities demolished 63 structures between 1 January, 2018 and 30 June, 2018, resulting in the displacement of 51 Palestinians, including 21 minors. The village of Issawiyeh remains the worst hit by demolitions as it witnesses the demolition of 18 structures, followed by Silwan, where 12 structures were demolished.
Israel uses house demolitions as an instrument to drive Palestinians out of Jerusalem and step up its campaign of forcible transfer. Additionally, the Israeli planning and construction policies constitute a major pillar in the Israel’s efforts to control and suffocate Palestinians in Jerusalem. Tens of thousands of Palestinians are facing demolition orders that threaten their very existence in the city. The most common pretext for handing out those demolition orders or carrying out demolitions is construction without permit. Not only does Israel deny Palestinians spaces to build and expand, it also systematically rejects the overwhelming majority of Palestinian applications for building permits.
Below is a list of the distribution of demolitions cases per neighborhood:
Neighborhood Number of structures demolished Neighborhood Number of structures demolished

Israel’s discriminatory planning and construction regime should be viewed in the context of Israel’s overall repressive and expansionist policy aimed at steering a concerted demographic engineering process. The United States administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel further emboldens this process and encourages Israel to escalate its violations of Palestinian rights with full impunity. In addition to house demolitions, the past six months have also seen the adoption and implementation of various measures targeting Palestinians in Jerusalem. Those include an amendment to the Entry into Israel Law that authorizes the Israeli Ministry of Interior to revoke the permanent residency of Palestinian Jerusalemites on the grounds of “breach of loyalty.” This amendment, which blatantly violates international humanitarian law, was passed on 7 March 2018. On that same day, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, also approved an amendment to the Counterterrorism Law authorizing the police to withhold the corpses of Palestinians killed during alleged attacks against Israelis.
Meanwhile, Israel’s severe restrictions on the family unification and child registration continue as do arbitrary arrests and eviction threats facing the residents of Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah.