Violation: Demolishing facilities.

Location: Hai Al-Khalayla – Jib village / Occupied Jerusalem.

Date: July 15^th 2020.

Perpetrators: the Israeli Occupation Forces.

Victims: Nour Al-Matri and Hussain Al-Massri.

Description:

Wednesday, July 15^th 2020, the Israeli occupation bulldozers demolished a vehicles repairing facility in Jib village northwest Jerusalem, on the pretext of building without licenses.

The operation targeted a vehicle repairing facility (garage) built of zinc and metal (300 m²) belongs to Citizen Nour Al-Matari , and a carwash facility with a total (700 m²), belongs to citizen Hussain Al-Massri.

Hussain Al-Massri told LRC:

“This is not the first time we experience demolition, in 2018 the occupation forces demolished both facilities, and after we rebuilt them, representatives from the civil administration showed up and gave us demolition orders for the new structures,  on the pretext of building without licenses. We tried to obtain a license for the carwash few years ago, but our request was refused.”

Al-Massri asserts:

“Wednesday morning, about 7:00 am, massive army forces raided the area and blocked the streets , then carried out the demolition.”

The Occupation authorities ban new construction in the village, with the intention to keep the land as a colonial reserve for Giv’on illegal settlement’s future expansion.

Jib Village:[1]

13 km to the north of Jerusalem city (7 km to the south of Ramallah) , Jib is surrounded by Beitunia (north) , Beit Ijza and Beit Duqqu (Giva’at Zeef and Giva’at Hadasha), Bir Nabal and Jadira (to the east), An-Nabi Samuel and Biddu (south).

The Village has a total area of 8,855 dunums , of which 729 dunums are a built up area.

• Israeli settlements devoured 2406 dunums:

• Bypass roads 436 and 437 devoured (563) dunums.
• The apartheid wall is 5706 m long , it ate up 570 dunums under its structure and isolated 4676 dunums (including settlements constructed on the village lands.

Oslo accords classified the village lands as the following:

• A area: NA.
• B area: (662) dunums.
• C area : (8192) dunums.
• Legal Feedback:
• Demolishing Palestinian structures is a violation of international humanitarian law, such as:
• 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] 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