- Violation: closing and sabotaging an apartment
- Location: Khallet Hadour- Hebron
- Date: March 08, 2016
- Perpetrators: Israeli Occupation Forces
- Victims: Family of citizen Samir Eskafi
Details:
On March 08, 2016, Israeli Occupation Forces demolished the internal wall of Citzen Samir Eskafi's residence and closed it through welding. It is reported that a massive force from the occupation army raided the area of Khallet Hadour at midnight and deployed a big number of soldiers around the residential building where Eskafi's home is located.
It should be marked that the soldiers demolished the internal walls of Eskafi's residence by manual tools, placed barrels filled with unidentified substances inside the apartment and closed the windows and doors of the house though welding metal slaps on them.
Photos 1-5: sings of closure and sabotage on Eskafi's
Israeli Occupation Forces accused the son of citizen Eskafi, martyr Ibrahim Eskafi (21), of allegedly ramming soldiers at the entrance of Halhul town on November 04, 2015. Ibrahim was shot dead during the incident.
As a result, Israeli occupation authorities served the martyr 's family Stop-Work order, to which the family submitted a plea in Israel Supreme Court. The plea was rejected and a closure was approved effective on house.
The house is reported to be of 130m2 in area and is inhabited by six member family including 4 children. The family now moved to the apartment of Samir's brother, who is getting married soon.
It should be marked that the Israeli Occupation Forces issued a confiscation order on Samir's apartment in reference to article 119 of British Emergency Law that was effective during the British mandate in 1945. Noteworthy, the law is now abolished.
According to article 119 of that law, "Confiscation" of property means that the owner can not re-build structures in case of demolition.
Land Research Center sees Israeli practices and measures as a collective punishment against the families of martyrs and prisoners. The occupation seeks to traumatize and humiliate Palestinian families through such practices.
The Israeli government claims such orders to be deterrent for Palestinians who carry out stabbing attacks. Such attacks come in response for colonists’ attacks on Palestinians, the latest of which was represented in torching a family alive, not mentioning running over kids and women, attacks on trees (torching , cutting down, robbing) and lands confiscation.
Land Research Center LRC sees that demolitions contradict with all of 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
