Israeli Occupation Forces demolish four structures in Hebron town of Yatta

• Violation: demolition of structures
• Location:  Yatta town- Hebron governorate
• Date:  August 14, 2017
• Perpetrators:  Israel Civil Administration
• Victims:  Al-Tabanah family

Details:

Israeli Occupation Forces demolished on August 14, 2017 three residences and one barn in Khashem Ed-Daraj village, east Yatta town in Hebron governorate. Affected owners said that a force from the occupation army, Border Police and Israel Civil Administration raided the area accompanied by a dozer and a digger and brought down the targeted structures after allowing some owners to evacuate some of the structures' interiors .

Photos 1-5: sings of the demolition operation

It should be noted that the targeted structures were made of metal slabs and gifted by GVC aid organization after the owners got their original structures demolished on April 29, 2014.

The Israeli occupation said that the structures were "unlicensed" and were located outside the borders of the suggested master plan. Noteworthy, the occupation authorities proposed a master plan of 2000 dunums for the village but the residents rejected it due to small-sized area given to them.

It should be also noted that the recently demolished structures were notified of stop-work while ago. At time, the affected owners sought help from legal aid organizations to defend their cases in Israeli courts but to no avail. Eventually, demolition was carried out. The following table shows information about the affected owners and properties:

About Khashem ed-Daraj: 

It is situated to  the southeast of Yatta town and is 20km away from it. The village has a total population of 800 people and is inhabited by several families namely( al-Tabanah, al-Hathalin, al-Faqir, and Hamadin). A roads network is there to link the village with other neighboring towns and cities. In addition to that, the town has many facilities  namely (water and electricity networks, primary mixed-gender school, a clinic, a kindergarten, and three mosques).

Khashem ed-Daraj is surrounded by the natural reserve relative to Israel Nature Authority and the Dead (from the east), Um el-Khair and Arrab al-Najada (from the west), a military training camp for the occupation (from the north), and the villages of Khashem el-Karm and al-Dqiqa (from the south).

Land Research Center LRC sees that demolitions contradict with all the International conventions and Humanitarian laws including:

 Article 17 of the (1948) Universal Declaration of Human Rights stating: “Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.”

Section ‹G› of article 23 of the (1907) The Hague Conventions asserting: “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.”

Article 53 of the Geneva Fourth Convention (1948) declaring: “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.”

 Section 1, Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966): “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent."

Prepared by
 The Land Research Center
LRC