The policy of displacement, property destruction, and confiscation has continued under the Barak government. Between the end of October and the end of November 14 homes in the West Bank and Gaza were demolished bringing the total in 1999 to 88 and since the beginning of the Oslo peace process to 782. (LAW, 30/11/99) According to a new report by Amnesty International (AI) entitled, "Demolition and Dispossession: The Destruction of Palestinian Homes", since 1987, at least 2,650 homes have been demolished in the West Bank (including eastern Jerusalem). While the number of Palestinians living under direct Israeli military control has dropped from around 1 million to 40,000 since 1995 (Oslo II), the number of house demolitions per year (219 in 1998) has shown an increase in recent years. AI estimates the value of the houses demolished since 1987 at around $50 million, not including the value of confiscated land. The report notes that more than one-third of the Palestinian population in eastern Jerusalem lives under the threat of having its houses demolished. (Full report is available at, www.amnesty.org)

In mid-November, some 400 Bedouin were evicted from caves and stone shacks in al-Fagara in the southern West Bank (AP, 16/11/99) while some 3,500 dunums of land in Gaza have been confiscated since the Barak government came to power. (Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, 20/10/99) Palestinians also raised serious concerns about the de facto annexation of some 8,000 dunums of West Bank land with the movement of two Israeli checkpoints across the green line into the West Bank effectively cutting off villagers from accessing their agricultural lands. The first checkpoint was moved 6 km from Umm el-Fahm inside Israel to Anin in the West Bank, and the second from the village of 'Ain al-Sahleh east to Umm al-Rihan. Villagers are only allowed through the checkpoints with special permission from the army. Shortly after signing of the Sharm al-Sheikh Memorandum in September, 5,700 acres of land in the southern West Bank on the green line close to the villages of Izna and Tarqumiya were confiscated. (AFP, 28/10/99) Note: Figures are presented as they appear in the press, the overall number of home demolitions, land confiscation, etc. may be higher.