Israeli Military Orders to Demolish Eight Palestinian Houses in An-Nabi Saleh village northwest of Ramallah

June 17, 2010

General Glance

An-Nabi Saleh is a small Palestinian village located about 11 kilometers northwest of the city of Ramallah and 12 kilometers east of the Green Line (Armistice Line of 1949). The village is inhabited by 668 residents (PCBS 2010). The village is bordered by Kufur ‘Ein village from the north, the Illegal Israeli settlement of Halmish as well as Deir Nitham village from the south, ‘Abud village from the west, ‘Ajjul village from its east.

According to the Oslo II Interim agreement of 1995, An-Nabi Saleh village lands, as well as the rest of the Palestinian Territory were divided into areas A, B and C. In Area A, the Palestinian National Authority has complete autonomy over administrative and security issues, where in area B, the Palestinians have civil responsibilities; while in Area C, Israel has full control over the security and administrative issues. Table 1 gives details of land classification of A-Nabi Saleh village according to Oslo II Interim Agreement of 1995:-

Table 1: Classification of An-Nabi Saleh Lands According to Oslo II Interim Agreement of 1995
%from the total Town lands	Area-Dunums	Land Classification
0.8	24	Area A
15.6	467	Area B
83.6	2,504	Area C
100	2,995	Total
Source: Geographical Information System- ARIJ 2010

The Violation

On June 10, 2010, the Israeli Occupation Forces handed over nine Palestinian local residents of An-Nabi Saleh village northwest of the city of Ramallah, military orders notifying them that their houses will be demolished under the pretext of lacking building permits. At the same time another local resident from the village received a military order notifying him that the wall surrounding his house will be demolished under the same pretext. Table 1 below clarifies the details of the threatened houses:

Table1: The Threatened Palestinian Houses in An-Nabi Saleh village northwest the city of Ramallah
Date of Construction	Type of Structure	Owner	No.
Built in the year 1964. 50 m2 added in the year 1996	House	Basim At-Tamimi	1
Built in 1976. Construction added in 1996 and authorized by the Israeli Civil Administration	House	Saleh Mohammad Ayyub	2
Built n 1976. Construction added in 1983	House	Samir At-Tamimi	3
Built in 1964. Construction added in 2008	House	Mohammad Rushdi At-Tamimi	4
Built in 1964. Construction added in 2008	House	Mohammad Rushdi At-Tamimi	5
Built in the year 2007	House	Abdul Hafiz At-Tamimi	6
Built in the year 2007	House	Mohammad Rushdi At-Tamimi	7
Built in the year 1964	House	Mohammad Mahmud Ahmad At-Tamimi	8
NA	House, Green Houses, animal Sheds and Barrackses	Firas Zuheir Ar-Rimawi	9
Source : An-Nabi Saleh village Council, 2010

Photos 1-4: Copies of the Israeli military orders that were delivered to residents of An Nabi Saleh Village

The population of An-Nabi Saleh village, and according to the accumulated Israeli colonial activities which had been conducted on the village lands, are deprived from their legitimate right to live, build and expand on their own lands, where the built-up area of An-Nabi Saleh village constitutes only 4.4% (133 dunums) from the total village area (2995 dunums), while the rest of the lands were used by the Israeli occupation to build the Illegal Israeli settlement of Halamish (established in 1977 over 678 dunums of land) and a military base (Halamish military base established on 124 dunums of lands of An Nabi Saleh village). See Map 1

Map 1: location of the threatened Palestinian houses in An-Nabi Saleh village

Conclusion

The Palestinian population in all over the Occupied Palestinian Territory are living under intolerable conditions, where they are surrounding by the Illegal Israeli settlements, the Segregation Wall, checkpoints and their houses are demolished on daily basis under Illegal and unjustified pretexts where they became trapped in their localities ,with no future plans for development.

The Israeli systematic deliberate campaign of demolishing the Palestinian houses in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is a part of a long-term Israeli plan to push the Palestinian population toward a voluntary deportation from their home land which is clearly violate the International law rules and conventions.

Article 53 & 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.
Moreover Art. 23 of the Hague Convention of 1907 also provides: In addition to the prohibitions provided by special Conventions, it is especially forbidden to destroy or seize the enemy’s property, unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war;
Also Under 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.

Prepared by
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem