Land Research Center

Tuesday March 3^rd 2020 , The Israeli occupation bulldozers demolished a house in Hizma village north Jerusalem , on the pretext of building without licenses from the occupation.

The targeted house belongs to citizen Rami Al-Khateeb from the village , who lives in the house with his family (9 members).

The targeted structure is a second floor built above a building aging 50 years old , the first floor wasn’t notified , unlike the second which has a total area of 120 m². However, 9 months ago representatives from the Occupation’s municipality accompanied by  the occupation’s police and border guards raided the area and gave a demolition order to the owner of the building.

Tuesday morning, a massive army force accompanied by a bulldozer, raided the area and razed the second floor, the operation took two hours, then they withdrew from the location.

The targeted house is only 300 m away from the Annexation and Expansion wall that divides Hizma from “Pizqat Ze’ev”.

During the recent years , several demolition cases were reported against Palestinian houses and facilities in the area on the pretext of building without licenses. The occupation imposes a buffer zone of about 300 m from the apartheid wall  , and demolishes any structure built within or close to that area.

About Hizma:[1]

It is 8km to the northeast of Jerusalem; it populates 7118 people on a built-up area of 987 dunums out of its 10,513 dunums total land area. According to Oslo lands classification of 1993, a small part of the village's area — the built-up area– is classified as area "B" that is under Palestinian control where the rest is classified "C" that is administratively run by the occupation municipality of Jerusalem .

The occupation confiscated 1937 dunums of Hizma for the expansion of various colonies namely :

It should be marked that the apartheid wall travels418 dunums on the lands of Hizma town, isolating 4,173 dunums of the village's total area behind its construction.

International Conventions and agreements pertaining to house and residents demolition:

• Article 147 of Geneva fourth convention  : extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly. ( it is considered a serious violation of the convention)

• Article 53 of Geneva fourth convention that forbids destroying properties: 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 co-operative organizations, is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.

• Article 33 of Geneva fourth convention: No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed.

• Article 32 of Hague convention 1907 part g: To destroy or seize the enemy's property, unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war.

• Article 17 of Universal declaration of human rights 10 –Dec- 1948:  No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

[1] Source : GIS-LRC

Protecting marginalized communities in Jerusalem through legal support and advocacy

This report was prepared with EU funding, the contents of this document do not reflect positions of the European Union