PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 15/003/2006

13 January 2006

Further Information on UA 305/05 (MDE 15/053/2005, 06 December 2005) - House Demolition

ISRAEL/OCCUPIED TERRITORIES Zarifa Abbasi (f), aged 76

Mohammad Abbasi (m), aged 78, her husband

At the beginning of January 2006 the Jerusalem District Court issued an injunction lifting the threat of imminent demolition from the home of Zarifa and Mohammed Abbasi. The elderly couple can therefore continue to live in their home while they try to obtain a building permit for the house, as mandated by the court.

This is a very important and positive development for the Abbasi family, who were at risk of being made homeless, had the court allowed the Jerusalem Municipality to carry out the demolition order issued for their home. Such orders are all too often impossible to reverse, and it is believed that the international concern expressed by the UA network and others for the fate of the Abbasi family home may have contributed to this positive outcome.

The building permit application can be expected to be a long and difficult process, and ultimately it can only succeed if the Israeli authorities fundamentally change their policy of not giving building permits to Palestinians, a change which Amnesty International has long been calling for. In the meantime, the Abbassi family will be in the same situation as thousands of other Palestinian families, whose efforts to obtain building permits for their homes have so far been frustrated by Israel’s policy and whose homes remain at risk of demolition in the long term, unless there is a change in that policy.

The Jerusalem municipality had issued a demolition order for the Abbasi family's home in the first half of 2005 and until the end of the year the family’s attempts to obtain a court injunction to stop the demolition order from being carried out had failed.

Many thanks to all who sent appeals. No further action is requested from the UA network. Amnesty International will continue to monitor the situation and take further campaigning action as necessary.