The UN Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, has reported that the month of May shows the highest number of children made homeless or otherwise affected by Israeli demolitions in the West Bank for 2011.
According to the report 304 Palestinians were dispossessed or affected by demolitions of homes and other infrastructure such as water facilities in the West Bank during May 2011. Of those 304, 67 were children.
Palestinians are permitted to build in only 13% of occupied Jerusalem and 1% of Area C in the West Bank. This leads to chronic housing and water shortages.
Palestinians forced to build without Israeli permission face the constant threat of demolition by the army. According to Israeli human rights group B’T Selem, there have been 25,000 house demolitions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 1967.
The UNRWA was set up by the UN to care for Palestinian refugees pending a solution to the refugee crisis. It has called on Israel to fulfill its duty as an occupation force to respect and maintain the human rights of those it administers such as rights to housing and water.
