Land Research Center

Monday, June 15^th 2020, The Israeli Occupation bulldozers demolished a residential building that consists of two apartments and four stores on the front, on the pretext of building without licenses.

The targeted building belongs to Osama ‘Alqam , who lives in one of the apartments with his family (3 members ,1 child), the other apartment belongs to Ihab ‘Alqam who lives in it with his family (7members 5 of them are children) , the construction started 6 months ago , each one of the two apartments has a total area of 160 m² and built of stones and cement.

The Occupation forces accompanied by border guards raided the area and carried out the demolition, the operation took three hours before the occupation forces withdrew.

During the last few years Ras Shhadeh neighborhood witnessed several demolition operations, The Occupation municipality prohibits new construction close to the Annexation and Expansion wall.

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.

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