AL-QUDS
A UN report issued Thursday cited a significant rise in Israeli home demolitions and consequent displacement in the occupied Jordan Valley in 2013, saying the demolitions had included structures funded by the international community.
The report, issued by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the total number of structures demolished and people displaced in the Jordan Valley had more than doubled last year compared with 2012 (390/590 compared to 172/279 respectively).
A map attached to the report shows that the Israeli authorities had demolished structures that had been financed by the international community.
According to the Oslo Accords, signed between the Palestinians and Israelis in 1993, the Palestinian Area C – including the Jordan Valley – falls under total Israeli administrative and security supervision.
Israel wants to keep the Jordan Valley under its control in any future peace deal with the Palestinians.
Palestinians, for their part, want the Jordan Valley – a large, fertile strip of land that accounts for roughly one quarter of the occupied West Bank – as part of a future state of Palestine.
Media reports said recently that the United States, hoping to mediate a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, had suggested the removal of Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley, while also calling for the presence of Israeli troops along the valley's border with Jordan for a ten-year period.
The Palestinian Authority, however, insists that all Israeli settlements in the valley be dismantled and that no Israeli military presence be allowed in the future Palestinian state.
Last week, the UN expressed deep concern over the demolition by Israel of 36 Palestinian homes in the Jordan Valley, saying the move had led to the displacement of 66 people, including 36 children.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
