Tag: House Demolition - Page 17 - International Solidarity Movement

Israeli forces demolish structures in South Hebron Hills

20th June 2014 | Operation Dove | Khallet Forem, Occupied Palestine

On June 18th, the Israeli army, along with border police officers and DCO (District Coordination Office) officers entered in the Palestinian village of Khallet Forem, in South Hebron Hills, and demolished seven houses, a bathroom, and a shelter.

No demolition orders were delivered for these structures.

According to Palestinian witnesses, a woman was injured by the soldiers during the operation.

The seven houses, the shelter, and the bathroom were owned by the Abu Dahar family. These demolitions involved at least 26 people, 12 of them are children.

In the same day, Israeli forces demolished the main road of Ar Rifa’Iyya Ad Deirat and built a roadblock in order to prevent the access from that road to the bypass road 356.

According to PHROC (The Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council), the recent wave of demolitions, arrests, attacks, killings, and total closure of large parts of the West Bank following the disappearance of three Israeli settlers is a form of collective punishment against the Palestinian people. This is in direct violation of Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention that forbid reprisals against protected persons and their property, as well as collective punishment.

Operation Dove has maintained an international presence in At-Tuwani and the South Hebron Hills since 2004.

[Note: According to the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Hague Regulations, the International Court of Justice, and several United Nations resolutions, all Israeli settlements and outposts in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are illegal. Most settlement outposts, including Havat Ma’on (Hill 833), are considered illegal also under Israeli law.]

Almost three out of four houses in Izbat at Tabib are at risk of demolition

8th May 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Izbat at Tabib, Occupied Palestine

Izbat at Tabib, a small town of approximately 300 people located in the northwest of the West Bank, has 33 houses with demolition orders pending. The town totals 45 houses, this means that the demolition orders could destroy over 73% the town.

According to a local witness, the majority of the demolition orders have been standing since 2012, in recent years at least two houses have been demolished in this small town. The first demolition took place in 2009, five years after the demolition order was served. The second house was demolished in 2011; just one year after the demolition order was handed to the family. In both cases the Israeli army gave the families only one hour to gather their belongings before their houses were demolished.

Furthermore, there is Alfe Menashe, an illegal Israeli settlement located just two kilometres away from Izbat at Tabib. The growth and proximity of this illegal settlement is forcing the local Palestinian population to abandon their agricultural land. The villagers recall that the illegal settlers are planning to build a factory near Alfe Menashe, which could end up taking over 160 dunums (16 hectares) of land from Izbat at Tabib. An area of land adjacent to the town has had its trees uprooted by Israeli settlers recently. Allegedly this was done in order to clear the area for the future illegal factory. The villagers, however, have begun replanting the uprooted trees with young olive and pine trees.

As ISM has extensively reported, the Israeli army has also been harassing the town of Izbat at Tabib, although witnesses recall that no major incidents have happened recently. Nonetheless, the Israeli army frequently goes into the small village at night, questioning local villagers and asking for their ID cards. The Israeli army also frequently blocks the local road, which connects Izbat at Tabib with Road 55, forcing the locals to travel through the town of Azzun to reach their village. The last time this happened was approximately two months ago, although local villagers tend to remove the roadblock by their own means.

The town of Izbat at Tabib is located in Area C [under full Israeli military control] according to the Oslo II Accord signed in 1995, therefore building or transit permits are very rarely granted to local Palestinians. Since Israeli authorities do not recognise this town, they have placed almost three quarters of its structures under demolition orders, including the local school.

Firms active in the settlements are facilitating abuses of human rights – UN report says

24th January 2014 | European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine | Brussels, Belgium

The UN report is the result of a mission investigating Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Information gathered by the mission shows that private firms have enabled, facilitated and profited, directly and indirectly, from the construction and growth of the settlements. It identified a number of business activities that raise particular concerns about abuses of human rights. They include:

• The supply of equipment and materials facilitating the construction of settlements and Israel’s wall in the West Bank;

•The supply of surveillance and identification equipment for settlements, the wall and military checkpoints;

• The supply of equipment for the demolition of housing and property, including the destruction of farms, greenhouses, olives groves and crops,;

• The supply of security services, equipment and materials to businesses operating in settlements;

• The provision of transport and other services to support the maintenance of settlements;

• Banking and financial operations helping to develop, expand or maintain settlements and their activities, including loans for housing and business development;

• The use of natural resources, in particular water and land, for business purposes;

• Pollution, dumping and transfer of waste to Palestinian villages;

• The way Palestinian financial and economic markets are held captive by Israel, as well as practices that disadvantage Palestinian businesses, including through restrictions on movement, and administrative and legal constraints.

According to the report, companies active in the settlements are fully aware that they are abusing international law and contributing to violations of human rights.

It also states that Israel labels all its export products as originating from Israel, including those wholly or partially produced in settlements. Some companies operating in settlements have been accused of hiding the original place of production of their products.

The mission also notes that some businesses have pulled out of settlements because it harms their image and might entail legal consequences.

The mission urges private companies to cease operating in the settlements and calls upon all Member States to comply with their obligations under international law and to assume their responsibilities in their relationship to a State breaching peremptory norms of international law – specifically not to recognise an unlawful situation resulting from Israel’s violations.

The report also notes that private companies must assess the human rights impact of their activities and take all necessary steps – including by terminating their business interests in the settlements – to ensure they are not adversely impacting the human rights of the Palestinian People. The Mission calls upon all Member States to take appropriate measures to ensure that business enterprises domiciled in their territory and/or under their jurisdiction, including those owned or controlled by them, that conduct activities in or related to the settlements respect human rights throughout their operations.

You can read the full report here

Israeli army demolish a house in the Salfit village of Deir Ballut

29th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Deir Ballut, Occupied Palestine

On Thursday morning at five am, the Israeli army demolished a house under construction, and left the area before the owner Ghaneem Mahmoud Abdullah Al-Karim or other villagers were able to arrive at the scene. It is believed that the Israeli forces conduct these activities so early in the morning in order to avoid nonviolent resistance from the villagers. This was the first house to be demolished in Deir Ballut but there are over sixty houses that have been served demolition orders from the Israeli army.

The village is over five hundred years old, and within the Oslo Agreements the village was literally split between Area B and Area C. There are over a hundred and eighty houses that now fall within Area C and therefore are under threat of demolition. The inhabitants of Area C need permission from the Israeli government to even refurbish their houses, which is often impossible to get.

Deir Ballut (to the left of the map) is in risk of being surrounded by the annexation wall. The red line is the wall today while the black marks the planned route (source: OCHA).

The majority of Deir Ballut, as with other villages in the area, is classified as Area C and is controlled by the occupation forces. Many villages in the Salfit area have lost land to settlement and to the construction of the separation wall. Deir Ballut has lost 2,000 dunums which was confiscated when Israel built the Apartheid Wall, and the intended reassignment of the Wall which is to be carried out in coming years will mean that the village will lose even more land and is surrounded by the wall.

As Deir Ballut’s population increases, families are forced to build in Area C, as is the case for the Al Karim family. The villagers are committed to continue constructing homes on their land, and to help Ghaneem and his family to rebuild their house.

Video: Gaza mother remembers Israeli airstrike that decimated her family a year ago

20th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Gal·la López | Gaza, Occupied Palestine

On 19th November 2012, shortly before the end of Israel’s “Operation Pillar of Defense” military offensive against the Gaza Strip, an Israeli missile struck the Hijazi family’s house as they watched TV.

The father and two his children were killed. Other family members were injured. Their house was destroyed, and their lives will never be the same.

Amna Hijazi, the mother and wife of the victims who was amid the carnage of the attack, recalls the details of the day one year later.