Background
The Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem is persistent to continue its campaign to eradicate the Palestinian Jerusalemites from their city, hence characterizing the decades of their ongoing practices nothing short of ethnic cleansing.
On August 5, 2009, the Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem handed 17 Palestinian Jerusalemites an administrative demolition orders to their houses. Furthermore four of the owners of the threatened houses were also heavily fined for disregarding previous demolition orders to their houses issued by the Israeli Occupation Municipality of Jerusalem.
Later on, on August 12, 2009, the Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem handed 3 Palestinian Jerusalemites an administrative demolition orders to their houses notifying them that they have to demolish their houses by themselves, otherwise, the Municipality bulldozers will execute the orders, and the owners of the houses will pay the expenses of the “demolition operation” to the Israeli Municipality of Jerusalem!!!
The threatened Palestinian houses located in the Jerusalemites towns of Silwan, Al ‘Isawyieh, Beit Hanina and Sur Baher, were served with the demolishing orders under the pretext of lacking building permits. See Map
It is worth mentioning that the Israeli Occupation Municipality of Jerusalem had issued from January 1, 2009 until August, 2009 more than 800 demolition orders, more than 48 of them had been executed, and the rest of the threatened houses are pending demolishing at any time.
The reason why Palestinian to build without authorization is because of decades old polices used by the Israeli municipality in occupied East Jerusalem, which restricts the Palestinians’ expansion to cope with the population growth. Such Israeli policies have long been adopted by imposing near impossible requirements to fulfill. Furthermore, the Israeli municipality has made sure to rezone land areas where Palestinians own lands to non-building areas while facilitating the illegal Israeli settlers’ construction in occupied East Jerusalem despite the fact that the settlers’ existence there is illegal and contradictory to international law.
The bottom line is that the Palestinians in Jerusalem are deprived by Israel from building and expanding thus marginalized in their city and homeland.
Legal & International Status
Israel continues to displace the Palestinian Jerusalemites with a relentless demolishing campaign in violation of international law, to uproot and to drive out as many Palestinians from their homes and lands and to build more Illegal Israeli settlements, and emphasize Jewish supremacy in the occupied city.
The Israeli municipality acts in Jerusalem lines up with an overall Israeli state policy to impose facts on the ground, and undermine the status of East Jerusalem to be the Capital for the future Palestinian state.
The Israeli policy in Jerusalem, destroying Palestinians’ properties is contrary to international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Article 23 of the Hague Convention of 1907 indicates 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’; and Article 53 of the same convention which also states that ‘any destruction by the Occupying power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or other public authorities or social or cooperative organizations is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.’ Also the universal Declaration of Human Rights Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of, December 10, 1948, Article 17 reads that ‘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.
Furthermore, 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’.
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