Demolition of a house under construction in the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan / Salfit Governorate

• Violation: demolishing a house under construction.
• Location: Qarawat Bani Hassan / Salfit Governorate.
• Date of Violation: 21/07/2020.
• Perpetrators: the Israeli Occupation Army.
• Affected party: The family of the citizen Radi Tawfiq Mustafa Marei.

Violation details:

On Tuesday morning, July 21, 2020, the Israeli Occupation Army demolished a house under construction in the Khallat Al-Qarn site, northeast of the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan, west of the city of Salfit, under the pretext of building without a permit.

It is noteworthy that the targeted house consists of a basement and a first floor under construction, with a total area of 220 square meters. Up on arrival at the site,  the occupation forces surrounded the house, then proceeded to completely level the building using an Israeli military bulldozer. The house is owned  by Mr. Radi Tawfiq Mustafa Marei who is a head of A family of four, including 2 children.

Activist Ayoub Asi from the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan told the Land Research Center’s researcher the following:

“This morning we were surprised by the arrival of a large force from the Israeli occupation army accompanied by a military bulldozer. Upon arrival, they began the process of demolishing the house, despite the presence of a precautionary decision issued by the Israeli Occupation Court in” Bet El freezing the demolition process and ordereding their soldiers to stop the demolition and withdraw immediately. The total losses due to the demolition of the house reached nearly 180,000 shekels”.

On the 26th of last April the affected citizen  received  an Israeli military notice bearing the number (050361), which included an order to stop construction under the pretext of non-licensing, but despite the citizen’s preparation of the license file and submitting it to the competent authorities of the occupation, his request was rejected  without any explanations.

During that particular period, the occupation authorities delivered 21 stop work notices in the same area against a number of structures, including    a 150m long retaining wall, nine houses under construction, three inhabited homes, six rooms, agricultural service structures, and four wells for collecting water. (For more information, see related reports recently issued by the Land Research Center in Arabic and English).

Photos 1-4: The house after demolition

Photos 5: copies of military notices and the house before demolition

Qarawat Bani Hassan:

The village of Qarawat Bani Hassan is located 12 km northwest of the city of Salfit, and is bordered to the north by the village of Deir Istiya, to the west by the village of Bidya, to the east by the villages of Deir Istiya and Haris, and to the south by the village of Sarta.

Its population is 5513 people according to 2017 census.Its total area is 9,443 dunums, of which 565 dunums are built-up area of the village.The Israeli settlements confiscated an area of 324 dunums of the village’s lands, as followed:

• 144 dunums for the construction of the settlement of Barkan which was established in 1981 and I inhabited now by 1981 settler;
• 180 dunums for the building of Kiriyat Netavim settlement established in 1982 and inhabited by 891 settlers.

Moreover, 129 dunums were captured for the construction of settlement bypass rad No. 5o5.

The village Land classifications according to the Oslo Agreement:

• Areas classified as B (849) dunums.
• Areas classified as (8,594) dunums.

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”.