On Monday, Israeli soldiers demolished two Palestinian homes near Bethlehem and Jericho in the occupied West Bank.
Media sources said the soldiers invaded the Wad Amira area in Artas village, south of Bethlehem, and demolished a Palestinian home.
They added that the army claims the 150 square-meter home, owned by Ibrahim Mahmoud Ayesh on his land, was built without a permit from the so-called “Civil Administration Office,” the administrative branch of the illegal Israeli occupation.
Video By Adel Abu Ni’ma
In Jericho, in the northeastern West Bank, the soldiers invaded the Sama Ariha area and demolished a 150 square meter home under similar allegations.
Media sources in Jericho said that the demolished property is privately owned and inhabited by a Palestinian from occupied Jerusalem and his family.
In related news, the army invaded Betunia town, west of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and handed a demolition order targeting a stone factory owned by Mahmoud Hasan Shilo.
The soldiers also confiscated a bulldozer and several digging machines the Palestinian owns in his factory.
Israel’s illegal 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.”
