On the early morning of April 24, 2013, the Israeli Occupation Army bulldozers stormed Al-Bass area in Al-Arroub refugee camp north of the city of Hebron, demolished without prior notification two under construction houses a room and a retaining wall owned by residents Hazem Abdel Fattah Jawabreh, Ya’koub Mohammad Jadallah Abu Nowah and Omar Younis Rashid Muheisen. According to the Israeli Army, the demolished structures were built without proper authorization. The causalities exceeded 80,000 USD. See details and photos of the demolished structures below:
No. | Owner’s Name | Type of Structure | Family Members | Year of Built | Area | Causalities- USD |
1 | Hazem Abdel Fattah Jawabreh | Under construction room | 8 | 2012 | 36 m2 | 33,000 |
Retaining wall | 2012 | 150 m | ||||
2 | Ya’koub Mohammad Jadallah Abu Nawa | Under construction house | 9 | 2012 | 140 m2 | 40000 |
3 | Omar Younis Rasheed Mheisen | Under construction house | 7 | 2012 | 70 m2 | 8000 |
Retaining wall | 2012 | 50 m | ||||
Total | 24 | ***** | **** | 81,000 | ||
Source: ARIJ Field Workers 2013 | ||||||
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Photos 1-9: the demolition in Al-‘Arrub Refugee Camp
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Al-‘Arrub Refugee Camp located north of the city of Hebron in the southern parts of the West Bank. It is bordered by Gush Etzion settlement Bloc as well as the Segregation Wall from the north, As-Shyoukh village from the south, Beit Ummar from the west and Beit Fajjar from the east. The camp is populated by 9,527 residents (PCBS Projections-2013).
ARIJ field workers interviews Abdel-Latif Abu Safeyya the director of Al-‘Arrub refugee camp where he indicated that the residents of the refugee camp are living in a catastrophic circumstances according to lack of building space and suitable infrastructure, where usually ten persons living in one 30m2 room inside the camp.
Mr. Abu Safeyya added that in addition to the lack of suitable area for the residents to develop and expand, the Israeli strangulating them by depriving them from their legitimate right to build and expand on their lands.
Proposed Bypass road to stretch through the area
On November 22, 1998, the commander of the Israeli Occupation Army in the West Bank at that time, Moshe Ya’laon, issued the military order No. 10/98/T stating the confiscation of hundreds of dunums from Al ‘Arrub, Beit Ummar and Halhoul lands under military pretext to construct 7 km length Israeli bypass road in the area.
According to the military order, the proposed road started from the bypass road # 60 and specifically nearby Kfar Etzion settlement and stretches through Al-‘Arrub, Halhoul lands in parallel with road 60 encircling the development areas of Al-‘Arrub camp and Shyoukh Al-Arrub town.
It is worth pointed that the plan of the proposed by pass road had been frozen for several years, while the recent demolition of the houses and structures in Al-‘Arrub camp, which are only dozens of meters away from the proposed path of the colonial road, indicates that the Israeli Occupation may start with implementing the road plan at anytime.
Conclusion
The Israeli targeting of the Palestinian properties is Illegal and constitutes a grave breach for the International law rules and conventions, some of which are listed below:
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.
‘Article 12’ of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence.
Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,: Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State.
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’.
