ISRAELI MILITARY AUTHORITIES TO DEMOLISH THREE HOUSES IN NABLUS
10 July 1997
Three homes in the village of Bani Fadel near Nablus have received house demolition orders. The houses have been standing for more than a year and over 20 people reside in the homes. Yesterday, LAW received an Israeli High Court order temporarily halting the house demolition until the Court holds a hearing concerning the case. As with nearly every case heard in front of the Israeli High Court, it is likely that at the hearing date, the petition will be rejected and the houses demolished.In another case concerning five house demolition orders in Hebron, the Israeli government agreed to cancel the demolition orders after LAW's attorneys showed that the Hebron homeowners had built with permits (these permits had been issued by the Palestinian Hebron municipality, but the Israeli military authorities tried to invalidate these permits when they unilaterally “re-zoned” the Hebron municipal limits).
LAW calls on the Israeli government to stop its policy of demolishing Palestinian homes. LAW proposes that as a confidence building measure to restart the negotiations, the Israeli government announce a freeze on all house demolitions in the West Bank and Jerusalem. LAW requests all concerned parties to support LAW's proposal and fax Israeli Prime Minister (972) (2) 566 4838, Minister of Foreign Affairs David Levy (972) (2) 530 3506, Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai (972) (3) 691 6940, and the US Consulate (972) (2) 6249462. Electronic mail to: Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu: pm@pmo.gov.il, the Office of the Prime Minister: feedback@pmo.gov.il, and the Israeli Government Press Office: gpo@pmo.gov.il, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs: ask@israel-info.gov.il.
LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment is a non-governmental organization, dedicated to preserving human rights through legal advocacy. LAW is also an affiliate member of the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights.