Date: May 2, 2025
PLO Refugee Affairs Department Condemns Israeli Demolition Orders Targeting 106 Residential Buildings in Tulkarem and Nur Shams Camps
Dr. Abu Holi: Israel’s Plan to Empty Palestinian Camps and Liquidate the Refugee Cause Will Not Succeed
Calls on the International Community to Take Responsibility and Curb Israel's Racist Displacement Policies
The Refugee Affairs Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) condemned the ongoing Israeli military operations since the beginning of this year and the systematic destruction campaigns targeting residential buildings in refugee camps in northern West Bank and East Jerusalem. The latest of these is today’s issuance of demolition orders by Israeli authorities targeting new homes in Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps. Published maps and photos identified the targeted homes—58 buildings in Tulkarem camp and 48 in Nur Shams camp.
Dr. Ahmed Abu Holi, Member of the Executive Committee of the PLO and Head of the Refugee Affairs Department, stated that the Israeli occupation is waging an open war on the camps of Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams in the northern West Bank since January. This has led to the destruction of hundreds of homes and the displacement of more than 45,000 Palestinians (approximately 12,000 families), now homeless outside their camps as part of a racist plan to empty the camps of Palestinian refugees.
Dr. Abu Holi added that the latest demolition orders—targeting 106 residential buildings, including 58 in Tulkarem and 48 in Nur Shams—will result in the forced displacement of 300 families. This, he said, is part of a broader plan to erase the camps, which stand as a witness to the Nakba and the crimes committed in 1948, as well as a stronghold for preserving the right of return, which Israel has been attempting to eliminate for 77 years. He emphasized that this plan will not succeed.
He asserted that Israel's systematic destruction of camps in the northern West Bank constitutes a war crime and ethnic cleansing, violating international law, the UN Charter, and relevant UN resolutions.
Dr. Abu Holi pointed out that this war on the northern West Bank camps coincides with Israel’s declared war on UNRWA, aiming to undermine its mandate and prohibit its operations in East Jerusalem as an entry point to liquidate the Palestinian refugee issue and abolish the right of return.
He explained that the war on West Bank camps is a continuation of the genocide, displacement, and starvation campaign being carried out against the Palestinian people since October 7, 2023. This has resulted in 200,000 Palestinians killed or injured and the destruction of 80% of Gaza’s residential buildings and infrastructure—all part of Israel’s racist strategy to impose a final solution that contradicts international law and UN resolutions. These resolutions provide for ending the conflict through ending the occupation, establishing a fully sovereign Palestinian state along the June 4, 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and ensuring the return of Palestinian refugees in accordance with UN Resolution 194.
Abu Holi stressed that with the absence of effective deterrent measures and the unlimited U.S. support for Israel in committing its crimes, Israel continues to implement its plans to displace and erase Palestinian rights. He affirmed that the Palestinian people—in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, and in Gaza—remain rooted in their land. The crimes of genocide, starvation, and home demolitions will not weaken their resilience or force them to migrate or abandon their legitimate right of return.
He noted that Palestinian efforts are ongoing at all levels to compel Israel to stop its genocide and starvation war in Gaza and to counter any attempts at forced displacement or transfer of Palestinians from their land—whether in Gaza or the West Bank, including Jerusalem.
Dr. Abu Holi warned that the continued Israeli crimes undermine regional security and stability. He stressed the need for the international community to adopt a new policy toward Israel, beginning with the imposition of sanctions to force it to stop the massacres and acts of genocide in Gaza, the West Bank, and occupied Jerusalem.
He called on the international community to assume its responsibilities in curbing Israel’s racist displacement policies and to intervene to stop the destruction, displacement, and gross human rights violations targeting the camps of northern West Bank—especially Tulkarem, Nur Shams, and Jenin—that have endured two years of continuous aggression.
