Amnesty on Home demolitions as War Crimes
Amnesty International
Press Release
18 May 2004
Israel and the Occupied Territories: Evictions and demolitions must stop
Israel's unjustified destruction of thousands of Palestinian and Arab Israeli
homes as well as vast areas of agricultural land has reached an unprecedented
level and must stop immediately, Amnesty International said today.
Over the last three and a half years, Israeli armed forces have demolished more
than 3,000 homes, leaving tens of thousands of men, women and children homeless
or without a livelihood.
In a report released today -- Israel and the Occupied Territories. Under the
rubble: House demolition and destruction of land and property -- Amnesty
International said:"The grounds invoked by Israel to justify the destruction are
overly broad and based on discriminatory policies and practices."
"The authorities gave us different justifications for refusing us the building
permit...Each time we succeeded to challenge or disprove the reason they had
given us for the refusal, our application was rejected on different grounds. We
spent thousands of dollars on this process. In the end we understood that it was
hopeless and we built our home without a permit." The home of Salim and 'Arabia
Shawamreh in the village of 'Anata has been demolished four times and is now
again under threat.
According to the United Nations, more than 2,000 homes in Gaza have been
destroyed in the last three years and 10 percent of the agricultural land. In
the West Bank, almost 90% of Israel's fence/wall is being built on occupied
territory and at least 600 homes have been destroyed.
In the Occupied Territories, demolitions are often carried out as collective
punishments for Palestinian attacks or to facilitate the expansion of illegal
Israeli settlements. Both practices contravene international law and some of
these acts are war crimes.
• Discriminatory planning and building policies make it practically impossible
for Israeli Arabs and Palestinians to obtain building permits.
• In Israel, the demolition of homes for lack of building permits in the Arab
sector is a recurrent phenomenon, whereas demolition of homes without building
permission in the Jewish sector is almost unheard of.
• Forced evictions and house demolitions are usually carried out without
warning with families given little or no time to leave their homes and salvage
their possessions.
• Most cases of house demolition and destruction of land are not subject to
legal supervision or appeal.
Amnesty International is calling on Israel to halt all unlawful destruction of
homes and land, including for the expansion of Israeli settlements and/or for
the building of the fence/wall in the Occupied Territories.
The Palestinian Authority is called upon to take measures to prevent attacks by
Palestinian armed groups on Israeli civilians.
Amnesty International is also pressing for other States, particularly the US, to
stop the sale or transfer of weaponry and equipment that are used to commit
unlawful destruction of homes and other human rights violations..
For a copy of the executive summary of the report, Israel and the Occupied
Territories. Under the rubble: House demolition and destruction of land and
property please go to:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde150402004
For a copy of the full report, Israel and the Occupied Territories. Under the
rubble: House demolition and destruction of land and property please go to:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde150332004