16 5. Violations of the right to housing, and the policy of forced displacement The occupation authorities carried out (869) demolitions against Palestinian homes and facilities compared to (686) demolitions in 2019. The demolitions in the governorates of Jerusalem, Hebron and Tubas constituted more than (65%) of the total demolitions in the governorates of the West Bank combined9. The Israeli occupation also demolished six homes of families of Palestinian prisoners accused of carrying out operations against the Israeli occupation in Birzeit, Kobar, Ramallah, Rojib, Ya’bad, and Jenin. Of the total (248) houses demolished, (242) were demolished under the pretext of not having a construction permit. Of these, (72) houses are located in the city of Jerusalem, (169) houses are in areas classified as “C”, three houses are in areas “B”, and (4) houses are in areas classified as “A”. 10 6. Settlement expansion policies and settler attacks The occupation authorities continued land confiscation operations for the purposes of settlement expansion and seized approximately (8830) dunums of Palestinian land. On the other hand, it announced the seizure of (11,200) dunums for the benefit of three nature reserves in the Jordan Valley. The occupation authorities bulldozed more than 1500 dunums of agricultural lands in the West Bank and uprooted thousands of olive and almond trees. The occupation authorities approved a plan to build (9,000) new settlement housing units in the “Atarot�� settlement, located north of Jerusalem, on the runway of occupied Qalandia Airport. A tender was issued to build (1257) new settlement units in the “Givat Hamatos” settlement, south of Jerusalem. Settlers’ attacks against Palestinian citizens and property have also escalated. These attacks amounted to no less than 1,090 attacks, an increase of (9%) over 2019. The majority of these attacks, (49%) of them, took place in the governorates of Nablus and Hebron, and caused the injury of (185) Palestinians. With various injuries, the majority of the attacks took place under the protection of the occupation army. Where it continued not to intervene to stop such attacks, and the Israeli judiciary continued not to hold settlers accountable or try the perpetrators. 9 The annual report of the Wall and Settlement Affairs Commission on “The Most Notable Israeli Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, March 2021.” 10 Al-Haq Field Report on Human Rights Violations for the year 2020, February 8, 2021. The Status of Human Rights in Palestine