The Israeli Occupation Wreaking Havoc in Husan village West of Bethlehem Governorate

May 8, 2012

On the early morning of May 9, 2012, the Israeli bulldozers accompanied with the Israeli Occupation forces stormed the western parts of Husan village west of Bethlehem Governorate and demolished, without a prior notification, a mechanic shop and confiscated another instruments from an adjacent shop in addition to the razing a of ruins for a previously demolished car wash station.

ARIJ field workers interviewed the owners of the targeted structures and properties:

The first demolished structures is a mechanic shop owned by the resident Iyad Fahmi Naji Da’na where he indicated that he had built the shop two years ago on a 600 m²piece of land and after few months he received a military demolition order for his new shop. Mr. Da’na added that he submitted a petition to the Israeli court against the demolition order and the court is still considering the case until now, while he was shocked when the Israeli bulldozers demolished his shop at 4:00 am without a prior notification where his losses exceeds 40 thousand NIS. See Photos 1-4:

After demolishing the mechanic shop, the Israeli bulldozers stationed at an adjacent car wash station that was demolished in December 1, 2011, and started to raze the ruins of the demolished station owned by the local resident Firas Sabri Shoushe. See photo 5:

The third target for the Israeli Occupation was a spare parts shop when the Israeli Army stormed the shop and illegally confiscated an expensive instruments worth more than 100 thousand NIS before handing Tha’er Mohammad Izzat Ibrahim Al-Ja’fari, the owner of the shop, a “confiscation receipt” in order to coordinate with what is called “Israeli Civil Administration” for bringing his instrument back after paying heavy fines as a “confiscation and storage expenses”!!! Below a photo for the targeted shop and a photocopies for the confiscation receipts:

Photo 6: the Targeted Shop in Husan

Photocopies of the confiscation receipts

Map 1: the locations of the targeted properties in Husan village

Husan, a Palestinian village in Bethlehem Governorate, located 6.5km west of Bethlehem City. The village is bordered by Battir village to the north, Nahalin village to the south, Al Khader town to the east, and the 1949 Armistice Line (the Green Line), Wadi Fukin village as well as the illegal Israeli settlements of Betar ‘Illit and Hadar Bitar to the west. The total population of Husan village is 7172 residents (PCBS 2010). To read more about the previous targeting of Husan village, refer to the previously case study: Demolition Israeli Campaign in Husan village West of Bethlehem Governorate. (2, December, 2011).

To Conclude

The Israeli Army carried out a systematic campaign of demolishing Palestinian houses in the occupied Palestinian territory under the pretext of lacking building permits, which is an illegal justification that comes to serve Israel’s colonial and expansionist purposes, represented by uprooting and driving out as many Palestinians from their homes and lands to the interest of its colonial projects which are, and in the mentality of the Israeli leaders, must be achieved on the expense of the Palestinians the owners of the land, and to the interest of the Israeli settlers and their illegitimate settlements and outposts.

More than that, the successive Israeli governments, intentionally, didn’t respect the Oslo II Agreement signed between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in the year 1995, while on the contrary, Israel, had escalated its campaign against the Palestinian houses, especially those located in Area “C” (according to Oslo Agreement lies under full Israeli control) and didn’t show any esteem to the international law rules and conventions as an occupation power.

The Israeli systematic house destruction campaign carried out by the Israeli Army in all over the oPt flagrantly violates the International law rules and conventions and United Nations resolutions:

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.

In the year 2004 the United Nations Security Council called on Israel to stop demolition of Palestinian homes under Resolution No. 1544-(2004), the resolution states: ‘The Security Council called on Israel to respect its obligations under international humanitarian law, particularly the obligation not to undertake home demolitions contrary to that law’.
Finally, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965) Article 5 provides that ‘States’ Parties undertake to prohibit and eliminate racial discrimination in all of its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, color, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of the following rights: … (e) in particular … (III) the right to housing’.