Earlier Tuesday, Israeli soldiers invaded Beit Hanina town, north of the occupied Palestinian capital Jerusalem, in the West Bank, and began the demolition of an 8-storey under-construction residential buildings.
Media sources said many Israeli military vehicles invaded the town, before the soldiers started demolishing the building, beginning with the upper floors, using long-reach excavators.
The sources added that the under-construction building is owned by a local Palestinian, Farid Abu Zahria, and was being built on his own land.
Each floor of the 8-storey building is 800 square meters; the army was still demolishing the building at the time of this report.
The Israeli army alleges the building was being constructed without a permit from the Jerusalem Municipality, an entity that restricts Palestinian construction or even the modification of homes, in and around occupied Jerusalem.
Israel’s illegal home demolition policy is internationally prohibited; according to Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, “No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and, likewise, all measures of intimidation or terrorism are prohibited. Pillage is prohibited. Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.”
While Israel continues to build and expand its illegal colonies, Palestinian communities and towns in occupied Jerusalem and various areas in the occupied West Bank continue to be denied the right to build homes and property under various allegations meant to prevent the expansion of Palestinian towns and neighborhoods.
Israel’s colonies in the occupied West Bank, including those in and around occupied East Jerusalem, are illegal under International Law, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and various United Nations and Security Council resolutions. They also constitute war crimes under International Law.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory.”
