The dozers of the occupation municipality demolished a mobile house in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Al-Ashqariya on the claim of "unlicensed construction". The house is a 100m2 caravan placed on a truck body. It is owned by citizen Majdi Idris who lived in it with his four member family including two minors.
Jamal, the father of the affected citizen, told Land Research Center the following:
" The structure was brought in 2014 to be home for my son's family, who used to reside in my place. The 100,000 NIS caravan was set up on a one dumum plot I own in the neighborhood. My son and his family lived in the caravan since that time until the late 2015. Rain leaked into the house and wind affected it so badly, causing my son and his family to come and reside in my house again.
He added: " On March 20, 2016 I found a demolition order left by the caravan with a hour 72 deadline. I revisited the surveillance camera to find out that the municipality officer left the order at 5:20 at dawn. The officer intended the order to be lost by just leaving it on the ground. At time, I called attorney Sami Irsheid, who would delay the demolition but that was for no avail.
On March 22, 2016, a massive force from Israel Police and a dozer came to the place and embarked on demolishing the caravan after a closure was imposed on the area. Now my son and his family will reside in my place, knowing that it is only 170m2 and that it accommodates 17 member most of them are children"
Land Research Center LRC sees that demolitions contradict with and violate 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
