The Israeli Municipality in Jerusalem Demolishes a Residence and a Shack in Beit Hanina

On February 9, 2012, the Israeli Occupation Municipality in the Occupied City of Jerusalem demolished a residence and a shack, property of Izz ad Din abu Nijma (61), who was left homeless along his 12-member family. Abu Nijma stated that around 7:30 am on February 9, an Israeli dozer accompanied by around 30 police officers and some workers broke into my property. The workers cleared some of the contents of the 100-m2-residence before the dozer leveled the house, a stable, and a wall surrounding the fence.

 

Abu Nijma said: ‘I consider myself a target, this is the fourth time they demolish one of my residences; in 1996, in 2002, 2008, and finally in 2012. I blame an Israeli officer called ‘Mikha’ who works in the Civil Administration in Beit El and used to threaten me of demolition every time he sees me. Today he was standing in the distance watching me.‘ ‘Every time they justify the demolition in a different way, I applied for a construction permit but the Municipality demanded the land ownership deed; however, when they got it they said that construction is prohibited in the area. Now, they claimed that the house is uninhabited and unused; if so, what is this furniture? And why is the fridge full of food??!!!‘

 

The Israeli forces breached a number of agreements and conventions by demolishing the residence, that includes article 53 of the Geneva Fourth Convention stating: ‘Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or to other public authorities, or to social or cooperative organizations, is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.’