A residence and cistern demolished in Beit Umer Town at the hands of the Israeli occupation  

• Violation: demolition of a residence and cistern.
• Violation date: February 13, 2022.
• Location: Wardan – Beit Ummar town / Hebron governorate.
• The aggressor: the so-called Israeli Civil Administration.
• Affected party: Citizen Odeh Sabarneh.

The violation details:

On Sunday, February 13, 2022, the Israeli occupation authorities demolished a house and a water cistern under the pretext that they were built without a permit. They also destroyed agricultural lands in the Wardan area, east of Beit Ummar town, north of Hebron.

At approximately 1:00 p.m., a force of the occupation army and the personnel from the so-called Planning and Construction Department of the Civil Administration, accompanied with a bulldozer produced by t “Volvo” company, and a crawler excavator produced by “Hyundai” company, targeting a plot of land owned by Odeh Ahmed Sabarneh.

The occupation bulldozer destroyed the metal gate that was built at the entrance to the plot of land,  then, the crawler excavator entered it and began demolishing the residence and the cistern.

Pictures 1-8: Ruins of the demolished house and water cistern east of Beit Ummar

The demolished agricultural dwelling was built in 2020, using bricks and reinforced concrete and a roof of curtain, a total area of  120 m2. The owner of the land used to reside in whioe working on his land it from time to time, as it was noticed that the laundries and kitchen utensils were present.

The occupation authorities, also, destroyed  a 120 m3 water collection cistern underneath  of the residence, used for watering the seedlings and crops on his land.

In addition, the occupation bulldozers uprooted 50 seedlings of olives and almonds owned by the same owner.

The demolished structures are located in a5-dunum plot of land owned by Mfr. Sabarneh whose he reclaimed and planted with various seedlings and got a residence and cistern built on it. but the occupation authorities notified him of a “demolition and removal of a new building” based on Military Order No. (1797), and the notice bears the number (20433) where it demanded that the target structures ought to be demolished within a period of 96 hours from the date of issuance , otherwise, they will  be demolished by the by the Israeli bulldozers and the owner should pay back.  

A copy of the demolition notice No. 20433, which targeted the residence of the citizen Sabarna

Legal Commentary:

The demolition of Palestinian homes and installations by the occupation authorities is part of their violations of international and humanitarian law, and the violation of the right to adequate housing for Palestinian citizens guaranteed by international law and international treaties presented by the following articles:

• Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states that “Destruction and usurpation of property in a manner not justified by military necessity and on a large scale in an unlawful and arbitrary manner is a grave breaches of the convention.
• Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1948 prohibits the destruction of property, as this article states the following: “The occupying power is prohibited from destroying any private, fixed or movable property related to individuals or groups, the state or public authorities, or social or cooperative organizations, unless the war operations inevitably require this destruction.
• Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed.
• Paragraph ‘g’ of Article 23 of the Hague Convention of 1907 AD also warned against destroying or seizing the enemy’s property, unless the necessities of war necessarily require such destruction or seizure.
• Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, dated December 10, 1948 states that “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property”.