Land Research Center

March 2^nd 2021

In the Early morning hours of Tuesday, the Israeli Occupation bulldozers demolished stores north Beit Hanina nearby an industrial area known as “Eterot” on the pretext of building without a license .

The Operation targeted a car wash facility built on a Baton floor on a total area of one dunum and a half, tin panels building (about 100 m²), small room (25 m²) used as a sleeping place for the guard . The Owner received a demolition order on February 23^rd 2021  , the occupation bulldozers completely ravaged the plot and destroyed everything on it.

The second demolition targeted a blacksmith belong to citizen Samer Syouri , with a total area of 400 m², the building was demolished and all its components were confiscated.

The demolition notices issued by the Israeli Ministry of Finance, and implemented by the Occupation’s Municipality in Jerusalem. Noting that the Occupation distributed several administrative demolition notices at the area on the pretext of building without a license, during the past few years the area witnessed ravaging works and confiscation of number of facilities on the pretext of building without licenses.

About Beit Hanina:^[1]

5 km north Jerusalem, Beit Hanina is surrounded by Bir Nabala (north), Beit Hanina down town (Bait Hanina town was divided to two parts by the Apartheid wall Upper Beit Hanaina and Beit Hanina down town) (west), Hizma (east) and Shufat (south). Beit Hanina has a population of 33,617 people in 2009, and an area of (8,877) , (3,341) dunums are a built up area.

The occupation confiscated over 3700 dunums for the following purposes:

Illegal colonies confiscated (3064) dunums as follows:

Bypass roads (50 +60) confiscated over 482 dunums.

Apartheid wall took over 50 dunums and has a length of (987) meters.

Occupation's military camps took over (103) dunums.

Legal Feedback:

Demolishing Palestinian structures is a violation of international law:

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