Report: Hundreds of buildings destroyed in 1997

A Peace Now report found that Israel had destroyed hundreds of buildings in the Occupied Territories and in East Jerusalem throughout 1997.

The report concluded that the Israeli Civil Administration, which operates within the military government in the West Bank was behind the demolition of those compounds in the West Bank while the interior ministry and the West Jerusalem municipality were responsible for the destruction of buildings in Jerusalem.

The report said that in the past year 154 houses were demolished, 245 tents taken down, one Bedouin school destroyed and ten graves destroyed. According to the Peace Now report, the civil administration destroyed 144 houses in the West Bank, while the interior ministry and the municipality of West Jerusalem destroyed ten houses in Jerusalem's neighborhoods of Silwan, Ras Al Amoud, Mount of Olives, Attor, and Wadi Al Joz.

"The destruction of these buildings can be done only by those who don’t want peace," said the movement in its report and called on the Israeli government to stop all actions of this kind which not only contradict Jewish values but conflict with international law and with the Oslo Accords between the PLO and Israel.