During the latest incursion of the Israeli army to Bethlehem Governorate which started on June 20 2002, the Israeli army bulldozers committed a new wave of house demolition causing the destruction of Palestinian houses whose members '' Israel '' claims to have carried out attacks against Israeli civilians. See Photo 1 & Photo 2
The Israeli soldiers forcefully evicted six families and demolished their houses, causing severe damage to the nearby houses. Almost 200 houses were totally or partially destroyed and sustained lighter damage: windows were blown out, doors deposed and water containers on top of the roofs were destroyed. Some families have been obligated again to abandon their homes, hoping to find a more secure place to stay in. Damaged properties were estimated by $ 250,000 to the nearby neighborhood, and $ 1,100,000 to the houses that have been demolished. See Photo 3 & Photo 4
These demolished houses belong to Daood Sawe from Artas village, Akram Al-Nabtiti and Issa Bideer from the Ad-Doha village, Ali A,lan from Ayda Refugee Camp, Jameel Al-Salahat from Bethlehem, whose house was rent by Yahya Da'msah, and Hazim Sarasra from Beit Jala. See Map.
Table 1: Details of the houses demolished.
|
Map ID. |
Name |
locality |
No. of Residents |
Ownership |
Total Area(m)2 |
No. of Floors |
Date of demolition |
|
1 |
Daood Sawe |
Artas village |
17 |
private |
400 |
3 |
8/8/2002 |
|
2 |
Akram Al-Nabtiti |
Ad-Doha city |
12 |
private |
800 |
2 |
8/8/2002 |
|
3 |
Issa Bideer |
Ad-Doha city |
8 |
private |
350 |
2 |
13/8/2002 |
|
4 |
Hazim Sarasra |
Beit Jala |
7 |
private |
408 |
1 |
1/8/2002 |
|
5 |
Ali A,lan |
Ayda Refugee Camp |
30 |
private |
1050 |
3 |
8/8/2002 |
|
6 |
Yahya Da'msah |
Bethlehem |
15 |
rent |
280 |
2 |
7/8/2002 |
It is worth mentioning here that the Israeli soldiers gave the residents less than 30 minutes in order to evacuate the houses and to get their furniture out. Most of their belongings remained in the houses with such a short notice. The six families live now in tents close to their demolished houses. See Photo 5 & Photo 6
Recently (During the month of August), the Israeli Supreme Court rejected the demand for stopping the demolition of 100 houses in the West Bank (AL-QUDS newspaper,9/8/2002, issue no .11842).
On the ground, it is a collective punishment to families whose members Israel claims to be involved in attacks against it. This form of collective punishment is clearly a violation to basic human rights and to the Fourth Geneva Convention article 53 which states ' any destruction by the occupying power [Israel] 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 co-operative organizations , is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations '
The continuous Israeli policy of house demolition is exacerbating the hardship in Palestinian living conditions as well as increasing feelings of hatred and revenge.
Prepared by:
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem
