UN News Center, 20 January 2016 – Senior United Nations officials for the occupied Palestinian territory have called for an immediate end to Israeli plans to transfer Bedouin living in the Jerusalem area for a settlement expansion, long recognized as a violation of international law and an obstacle to realizing a two-state solution to the Middle East crisis.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has already stated that the implementation of Israel’s proposed “relocation” would amount to forcible transfers and forced evictions, contravening its obligations as an occupying power under humanitarian law and human rights law.
 “I am once again deeply alarmed to witness Israel’s relentless push towards removing Bedouin Palestine refugees from their homes, destroying their livelihoods and their distinct culture,” said Felipe Sanchez, Director of Operations in the West Bank for UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
“The children in these communities should not be experiencing the trauma of displacement that preceding generations already experienced,” he added.
Twenty-six Palestine refugees, among them 18 children, including four with disabilities, were displaced on 6 January following the destruction of their homes, and other basic structures. On 10 and 14 January, Israeli authorities confiscated eight donor-funded residential tents that had been provided to the families as post-demolition humanitarian response.