The bulldozers of the Israeli occupation army demolished on November  22, 2017 an under construction residence in Shu'fat town on the claim of "unlicensed construction". Noteworthy, the structure belongs to citizen Jamal Abu Khdair.

 Citizen Jamal told Land Research Center the following:

"I lived with my four member family including my two married sons and their offspring. We total 23 persons. Therefore I decided to build two apartments for my sons. Inspectors from Israel Municipality in Jerusalem arrived at the location and notified the recently built house (340m²) of demolition. Despite the fact that the area is classified "planned" according to the municipality, which means that construction is allowed, I was contacted by an officer from the occupation informing me that the house will be demolished. On January 22, 2017, the municipality staff and army dozers encircled the house and brought it down before closing all ways leading to the structure."

The rubbles of the house

Noteworthy, Israel Occupation Authorities confiscated some lands from Shu'fat to open new colonial road number 21, which is planned to link Pisgat Zev colony to Ramot colony.

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