Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department holds on the number of house demolitions conducted by Israel in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We do not hold independent information on the number of house demolitions conducted by the Israeli authorities in the last five years. However, according to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, between 2011 and 2015, 2851 Palestinian-owned structures were demolished in Area C and East Jerusalem. This figure includes homes, infrastructure and agriculture-related structures. The breakdown is 2011: 560 Palestinian-owned structured demolished (all in West Bank); 2012: 604 (540 in West Bank and 64 in East Jerusalem); 2013: 663 (565 in West Bank and 98 in East Jerusalem); 2014: 493 (98 in East Jerusalem and 395 in West Bank); and 2015: 531 (453 in the West Bank and 78 in East Jerusalem).