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Land and Water Establishment For Immediate Release: Tel: (972) (2) 824559/812364 21 March, 1996 Fax: (972) (2) 811072 email: lawe@netvision.net.il
HIGH COURT APPROVES SEVEN HOUSE DEMOLITIONS
THREE HOMES DEMOLISHED, TWO SEALED
On 20 March at 10 am the home of Ibrahim Sarahneh in al Fawar refugee camp, where his mother and four brothers and sisters lived, was blown up by the Israeli army. At 4 a.m., the army entered the camp and imposed curfew, evacuated over 1000 people living within a 500 meter range of Sarahneh's house, bulldozed a path to the house, and demolished it.
At 2:00 pm the house of Muhiye Deen el Sharif in Beit Hanina, a suburb of Jerusalem, was demolished by bulldozer while the family looked on.
The home of Abdel Majeed Dudeen, from Dura village near Hebron, was also demolished yesterday.
The family home of Amjad Iman Sidr from Abu Dis, near Jerusalem, was sealed shut yesterday by the Israeli army, in preparation for demolition. The army also sealed the home of Abu Wardeh from al Fawar refugee camp, where his mother, father and nine brothers and sisters live. The Red Cross has donated a tent for this family of eleven.
Two other houses were slated for demolition for punitive reasons. They are: the house of the family of Labib Azan from Qariut village, near Nablus, and the home of the family of Sufian Jabarin, from El Dahariyeh village near Hebron. Four of the above homes were targeted as belonging to families of the suicide bombers, the other three simply for belonging to the families of someone who allegedly gave aid to the bombers.
On 19 March, the Israeli High Court approved the demolition of these seven homes in the West Bank belonging to the families of suicide bombers, and gave the families 24 hours to vacate their homes and belongings. The Israeli High Court accepted the State's contention that this type of collective punishment represents an effective deterrent to suicide bombing attacks. But over 400 homes have been demolished as a punitive measure since the Intifada began, and attacks still continue (Betselem). This type of collective punishment cannot be expected to do so now.
Punishing innocent families, including children, represents a gross violation of human rights, standards of decency and international law, and ensures the security of no-one. What it does do is increase hopelessness and desperation, and becomes a recruiting tool for extremist elements.
LAWE deplores these demolitions, and points out that these demolitions, the closure, and threats of deportation not only violate the letter and spirit of the Oslo Accords, but also represents blatant violations of international law. LAWE calls on the international community to condemn these measures in the strongest possible terms.