Land Research Center

The bulldozers of Israel's occupation municipality demolished on August 09, 2017 a residence  in the neighborhood of Al-Ashqariya in  Beit Hanina town, north of Jerusalem.

The demolished structure belongs to citizen Thaer Siam and was brought down on the claim of "unlicensed construction" The family said that the room and its facilities were 50 square meters and built from wood; construction started two months ago.

Siam told Land Research Center the following:

"I built the house two months ago in order to move in to it.  One day before the demolition, a police vehicle came to the site and took photos of the structure, neighbors told me.

In the morning of next day, a massive force arrived in the location and entirely closed the neighborhood  before imposing a curfew.  Minutes later, the accompanying dozer brought down the wooden house and ravaged the periphery, leaving five trees uprooted. The demolition lasted until 6:30 in the morning".

It should be noted that this is the second demolition in the same location. First one was carried out on October 2016 by the occupation forces, the residence was reported owned by Ahmad Abdelrazzaq.

Land Research Center LRC sees that demolitions contradict with all 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.

This case study is part of Kan'aan Project