Halt of Work notice for 5 Residential facilities in Kafr Ad-Dik town / Salfit governorate

• Violation: Halt of work notices for residences.
• Location: Kafr Ad-Dik town / Salfit governorate.
• Date: November 2^nd 2021.
• Perpetrators: The Israeli Civil Administration.
• Victims: 5 families from the town.

Description:

Tuesday, November 2^nd 2021, the Israeli occupation forces accompanied by the building inspector at the Israeli civil administration raided Kafr Ad-Dik town west Salfit, and gave 5 halt of work notices for residential structures, the notices target Al-Khalayil area west Kafr Ad-Dik town.

According to the military order , the occupation sat November 24^th 2021 , as the date of the building and organization session in Beit El military court , to decide the fate of the structure.

The following table shows more information about the damages:

Affected citizen	Family members	Area m2	Military order number	The targeted facility	photo
Mohammed Ahmed	11	120		Under construction house – one floor
Hani Ahmed	5	30		Room under construction
Sharif Ahmed	13	900		Stores and under construction upper floor
Mahmoud Ahmed	8	300		Under construction house two floors
Humam Ahmed	9	180		Four stores – under construction
total	46	1530

During 2020 , the Israeli occupation targeted a large number of residential and agricultural facilities.  Only during the past year, 13 facilities received halt of work notices.

Kafr Ad-Dik:

Kafr ad Dik is located 15 km to the west of Salfit. It is surrounded by Bidya (north), Rafat and Deir Ballut (west), Bruqin and Sarta (east), and Bani Zaid villages (south).

Kafr ad Dik has a population of 5551 people, according to a 2017 census.

Its total area is 15529 dunums; however, it has been suffocated by bypasses and 3 Israeli colonies that lay over its lands.

This has further limited its expansion knowing that it had already had a 791-dunum organizational plan (built-up area); it also isolated the village from its surroundings.

The Israeli occupation confiscated 2477 dunums of Kafr ad Dik lands for the benefit of:

1. Colonies devoured 1225 dunums, and they are:

*Source: Field Research- Monitoring Israeli Violations Team- Land Research Centre (LRC).

2. Bypasses stole 362 dunums
3. The Apartheid Wall seized 890 dunums and isolated 8824 dunums and is expected to be 8905 long in Kafr ad Dik lands.

Lands of Kfar ad-Dik are categorized according to Oslo Accords into lands under Area B (15% of the lands) and lands under Area C (85% of the lands).

Photo 6 : A view of Kafr Ad-Dik

Legal Commentary:

Demolition of Palestinian structures by the occupation authorities is a  violation of international and humanitarian law presented by the following articles:

Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, dated December 10, 1948 states that “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property”.

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.

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.

Prepared by
 The Land Research Center
LRC