The Israeli government has allowed illegal Arab construction in all areas of the W. Bank (Yehuda and Shomron) while continuing to destroy illegal Jewish outposts.

A recent report by the Civil Administration said that the army and the police have routinely enforced demolition orders against illegal Jewish structures but have frozen all demolition orders on illegal Arab structures. The Civil Administration is a branch of the army which is responsible for supervising both Jewish and Arab construction in the West Bank.

“The Israeli sector is under much more heavy supervision and scrutiny than the Palestinian sector and this is because of the high level of sensitivity and policy of enforcement,” the report said. “From the month of March 2008, there has been a total freeze on enforcement [of demolition of illegal Arab structures] in the Palestinian sector.”

The report shows that 36 percent or 105 out of 293 illegally built structures owned by Jews in the West Bank were destroyed in 2008. In contrast, only 17 percent or 111 out of 646 Arab-owned structures illegally built on private Jewish land or State land or survey lands were destroyed.

Survey land is land that the State of Israel has not yet claimed but the land does not belong to Arabs. Still, Jewish regional councils in Judea and Samaria have said that illegal Arab construction, including Arab agricultural projects, are taking over survey lands as well as State land.

The Movement for the Protection of National Lands said that the European Union supports charity organizations like the British-based “Oxfam” in supplying Arabs with farming equipment and building materials to take over land in the West Bank. Movement officials said this phenomenon was especially prevalent in the areas between Bethlehem and Hebron in the Jewish Gush Etzion bloc of settlements and near Jewish communities in the southern Hebron Hills.

“There are tens of [charity] organizations that are active and work hand in hand with the Palestinians,” Oved Arad of the Movement for the Protection of National Lands said. “They build on lands which belong to the State, including land that is used for military exercises. They pave roads and prepare land for farming. They have no license for this. The Civil Administration doesn’t do anything at all. If you go to speak to the officials, they say it’s a directive coming from higher authorities.”

The Civil Administration report cites the numerous demolitions — at least six times — of some of the Jewish outposts, including Nezer, located in Gush Etzion and Maoz Esther, located in Samaria and Hazon David near Hebron while citing a substantial drop in illegal Arab construction in 2008.

“An analysis of the 2008 data points to a clear trend of increased activity in light construction, additions to existing structures and the building of caravans in the [Judea and Samaria] areas,” the report said. “…And this is on a background of a decrease in irregularities on private land and definitely in Palestinian areas.”

Whereas the Civil Administration report cites the violation of building orders among Jews, it does not record similar violations in the Palestinian sector.

“A large portion of the reports of irregularities deal with violation of [Civil Administration] orders,” the report said. “Obviously, these reports do not affect the number of illegal structures in an outpost or a settlement.”

(IsraelJustice.com)