Days of Palestine – Salfit
The Israeli occupation forces demolished Wednesday, August 17, 2022, five agricultural rooms in the Salfit governorate in the north of the West Bank, according to local sources.
They said four rooms were demolished in Kufr al-Dik town owned by three different people, and the fifth in the town of Bruqin and owned by the town’s mayor.
Israeli occupation claimed the rooms were built without a permit in Area C in the occupied West Bank, which is under full Israeli military rule.
Israeli occupation forces continue to demolish throughout the West Bank, including a Palestinian-owned home under construction and a water collection pool.
In addition to issuing stop-construction orders against Palestinian properties, including tents and a Palestinian-owned water reservoir in Kardala in the northern Jordan Valley.
According to Al-Haq, the destruction of private and public property by the Israeli occupying authorities violates numerous principles of international human rights and humanitarian law.
Israel’s ongoing demolitions and stop-construction orders for Palestinian-owned homes, structures, and property throughout the West Bank, particularly in Area C and East Jerusalem, demonstrates Israel’s complete disregard for international law, its obligations as Occupying Power, and the rights and well-being of the occupied Palestinian population.
Given that the Israeli occupation authorities barely grant Palestinians building permits, Palestinians have no choice but to build their structures without permits in East Jerusalem and Area C, which are then subjected to demolition orders and demolitions.
Israel’s demolition policy also creates a coercive environment for Palestinians, putting pressure on them to leave their areas of residence to be replaced with Israeli settlers.
Under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel as the occupying power is prohibited from carrying out direct or indirect forcible transfers of protected persons within the occupied territory.
Forcible transfer is also a war crime, and is specifically defined to include transfers “caused by fear of violence, duress, … or by taking advantage of a coercive environment”.
As a result, the repeated demolitions and threats of demolitions against Palestinian-owned structures, creating a situation where Palestinian families and communities essentially have no choice but to leave their land, constitutes forcible transfer in violation of international law.
Israel’s demolition policy is also contrary to Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits an occupying power from destroying personal or private property unless it is for military necessity.
None of the properties mentioned above demolished or threatened with demolition, fit this exception, further constituting a grave breach of Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Furthermore, Israel has long prohibited Palestinians from building their own water infrastructure and structures in the OPT without permits, which are almost impossible to obtain, restricting Palestinian access to and extraction of water resources.
At the same time, Israel maintains discriminatory practices in the allocation of water resources, for the benefit of Israeli settlers.
By demolishing and threatening to demolish Palestinian water structures in the West Bank, Israel infringes upon the right to water as established in international law, including in Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and General Comment No. 15 of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and recognized by UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council.
The right to water is also recognized in the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Israel, as an occupying power, is also prohibited under international humanitarian law from transferring its civilian population into the occupied territory.
Israel’s demolition policy also violates these obligations, since the removal of Palestinians from Area C and East Jerusalem aims at transferring Israeli citizens (settlers) into those areas.
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