On October 25, 2008, the Israeli Army raided the Palestinian village of Hussan, west of Bethlehem Governorate, and surrounded the house of the local resident Mr. Bassam Z'oul located in the southern part of the village. The targeted house is located close to the Illegal Israeli settlement of Bitar 'Illit, and along the Israeli bypass road #375 leading to the mentioned settlement. The Israeli soldiers who stormed the house ordered Z'oul’s family to evacuate the house in five minutes time without giving any explanation to there action and without presenting them with tangiable order to the event.

 

Mr. Bassam; the owner of the targeted house indicated that the Israeli soldiers stormed his house at 3:00 am and ordered him along with his family members to evacuate the house, and within five minutes the Israeli soldiers had aggressively expelled them from the house, then they started to search inside the house; and while Bassem (the Owner of the House) attempted to inquire the soldiers actions and if they have any warrant, the soldiers assaulted him and his 20 years old son 'Ahmad'.

 

Furthermore, Mr. Bassam added that the Israeli soldiers had taken control over the vicinity of his house where they positioned military equipments and within 15 minutes time the house became an Israeli military post. See the map below: below:

Map 1: Location of the targeted house

 

Several peace activitists, including israelis went to the targted house to make sense of what happened and to find out why the Israeli Army decided to sieze the targeted house and on what grounds and the best answer they recived that their action is related to “security purposes” much related to the well-being of the Israeli settlers of Birat 'Illit  whom allegedly their cars had been subjected to stone-throwing by a Palestinian youth while they were traveling along bypass road 375.

 

The peace activitists expressed their surprise upon the Israeli soldiers claims, since that there is an under construction 2 level building, located just behind Bassam Z'oul house; so why the Israeli soldiers chose to take over an inhabited house and evacuate the residents but again the term “security purposes.”

 

Hussan Village Location & Population

Hussan is a small Palestinian village located west of Bethlehem Governorate with a population of 5708 residents (PCBS 2006). The total area of the village is 7295 dunums, 524 Dunums of which classified as area B, while the rest (6771 Dunums) classified as area C.

 

It is worth mentioning that Hussan village had lost 3435 dunums form its lands (47% from the total area of the village) for building the Illegal Israeli settlements of Hadar Bitar and Bitar 'Illit .See the table below:

 

Population	Area– Dunums	Date OfEstablishment	Settlement'sName
30	4	1978	HadarBitar
29000	3431	1985	Bitar 'Illit
29030	3435		Total

Source: ARIJ GIS Database – 2008

 

To Conclude

Israel, and from the first day of its occupation of the Palestinian land adopted and still a systematic colonial activities and procedures to serve the interest and security of the Israeli citizens in general and specifically the Israeli settlers of the Illegal Israeli settlements which are spread throughout the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

 

The Israeli occupation of Mr. Bassam's Z'oul house is just another form  of the Israeli occupation imposing facts on the ground and gravely breach of the International law rules and conventions such as:

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of, December 10, 1948, Article 17 reads: 'No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.' Which means it bans Israel from destroying or confiscating the property of the Palestinians at any case.

•  Also Article 23 of The Hague Convention provides that: 'it is forbidden to destroy or seize the enemy's property, 'unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war'.

• Moreover, Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 indicated that: 'Extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly. is a grave breach of the Convention, and thus constitute a war crime'.

• Furthermore, Article 33 of the same Convention prohibits collective punishment, and land leveling and property destruction carried out by Israeli forces are collective punishments. The article states: 'No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.”

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[1] Under the signed Oslo II Interim agreement in September 1995 between the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel, the West Bank territory was classified into Areas “A,” “B” and “C,” designating varying levels of control:-

 

Area A: The Israeli army has pulled out fully and Palestinians hold all responsibilities for internal security and Public order.

Area B: Palestinians have full control over the civil administration and Israel continues to have overriding responsibility for security.

Area C: The Palestinians have responsibility for civil life such as economics, health, and education; while, Israel retains full control over security and administration related to the territory.

 

 

 

 

Prepared by 
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem