Two commercial stores demolished in Qalqliya city

• Violation: the demolition of two commercial stores under the pretext of not being licensed.
• Location: Qalqilya city.
• Date of violation: 30/11/2020.
• Perpetrator: the so-called building inspector of the Israeli Civil Administration.
• Affected party: Citizens Rafiq Ibrahim Saad Nazzal and Muhammad Talab Ahmad Abu Hamed.

The violation details:

  On Monday morning, November 30, 2020, the Israeli occupation army accompanied by the so-called construction inspector of the Israeli Civil Administration stormed the eastern entrance to the city of Qalqilya and began demolishing  and removing the remains of two commercial stores built on concrete floors, metal rods and metal sheets whose  owners were previously forced to self  dismantle them after they had received military notices on 19/11 /2020  according to the Military order No. 1797.

The two stores are located on the main road close to a military base for the occupation army which was established in the 1980s with the aim of controlling the people’s  movement in that area.

Photos 1-3: the ruble of the two stores

 It is noteworthy that on 20/10/2020  the occupation authorities  demolished three commercial sheds in the same area owned by citizens, Mahdi Radwan Musa Dawood, 28 years old,  Abdullah Abdel Fattah Ibrahim Yassin, 33 years old. The two owners received a demolition notice bearing the number 10063 on  18/6/2020 which came under the title of “removing a new building within a period not exceeding 96 hours, according to Military Law No. 1797”. 

Military order No. 1797:

The Coordinator of Israeli Government Activities in the Occupied Territories (COGAT) issued military order 1797 on 17 April 2018. COGAT, under the direct control of the Israeli defense ministry, runs civil affairs in the occupied West Bank.                                       

This military order makes it possible for Israeli forces to demolish Palestinian homesdeemed as “new” in Area C within 96 hours of a demolition order or removal notice being issued which “blatantly violate international law and contravenes existing local legislation.

According to the military order, “new structures” are those identified by an Israeli ” Civil” Administration (ICA) inspector as having been built within the previous six months, or inhabited for less than 30 days prior to the removal notice. The only way to prevent the demolition is to produce a valid building permit or provide evidence that the targeted structure is not “new” within the meaning of the order.

The new order severely restricts the right to a hearing or the opportunity of appeal. According to the planning regulations applicable in Area C, the first enforcement measure against an unlicensed structure is a stop-work order, which gives the owner 30 days to object and try to obtain a building permit retroactively. If this fails, (COGAT) may issue a final demolition order, usually due for implementation within two to four weeks. 

Military Order 1797 allows the Israeli Military Commander to summarily destroy Palestinian structures – including those provided as humanitarian assistance – with virtually no legal recourse available to those whose homes will be destroyed. No access to justice and no protection from grave breaches of IHL.

 Military order says Palestinians have 96 hours to appeal house demolition

Even if Palestinians fulfill the appeal requirements put in place by military order 1797, Israeli authorities maintain complete authority to proceed with demolition.

Under the order, COGAT excuses itself from informing Palestinian homeowners directly that their homes are slated for demolition. The Israeli authorities only require demolition orders be placed “next to” relevant structures 96 hours before Israeli forces arrive to execute demolition. If a homeowner does catch wind of an impending demolition, he or she must present an approved master plan and building permit to appeal the demolition. Israel’s discriminatory housing policies in the West Bank ensure that this is an almost impossible requirement for the 300,000 Palestinians living in Area C, 60 percent of the West Bank, to fulfill. For example, between 2010 and 2014, Israel approves 1.5 percent of building applications in Area C. Israeli authorities, however, routinely approve of settlement master plans and even halt demolitions of settler outposts citing the existence of master plans. Indeed, since 2017 Israeli officials have approves  nearly 14,000 settlement units in the West Bank.

In addition to having to produce an approved master building plan within four days, Palestinian residents of Area C attempting to forestall demolition must prove that construction on their home or home addition has been completed for six months or that the structure has been inhabited for thirty days.

By requiring that Palestinians produce so many documents in such a short period of time, this military order “virtually strips the affected residents of the right to due process and the capacity to challenge the demolition orders through legal avenues, by requiring that objections to the demolition order be accompanied with a valid building permit. Moreover, COGAT remains the sole arbiter of these appeals. Put differently, even if Palestinians fulfill the appeal requirements put in place by military order 1797, COGAT empowers itself to proceed with demolition anyway.