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Press release

Israeli Supreme Court Orders Temporary Halt to House Demolitions Near al-Mughraqa

Date:    15 March

Ref       39/2002

The Israeli Supreme Court today issued three temporary orders forbidding Israeli occupying forces from demolishing Palestinian houses in the al-Mughraqa area of the Gaza strip without granting residents adequate time for appeal.

Al-Mughraqa area is located near the illegal Israeli settlement of Netzarim, south of Gaza city.  Yesterday, Israeli occupying forces demolished eight Palestinian houses in al-Mughraqa without granting an opportunity for appeal or for residents to remove their belongings.  The demolition operations began immediately after a Palestinian military attack against an Israeli tank early yesterday morning.

Yesterday, PCHR submitted an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court in cooperation with two Israeli non-governmental organisations – Hamoked (the Centre for the Defence of the Individual) and Physicians for Human Rights/Israel – to halt house demolitions in al-Mughraqa.  The Court ruled today that the demolitions could not go ahead without allowing the families in the area time for appeal.

At approximately 1200 today, Israeli occupying forces informed the owners of 17 of the houses in the area that they had three hours to evacuate their belongings as a prelude to demolition.  PCHR submitted two emergency appeals to the Israeli Supreme Court on behalf of 10 and 7 of the house owners, respectively, and obtained two rulings ordering an immediate halt to the demolition operations.  The Court will hold a series of sessions from 17 to 19 March to examine the appeals and gave the Israeli State Prosecutor’s office until then to explain its position.

PCHR expresses its satisfaction with the court decisions, which constitute a temporary minimum protection against demolition.  PCHR fears, however, that the house demolitions may proceed at a later date as a way of removing the area of its Palestinian inhabitants in order to annex the land to the Netzarim settlement.  The Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reported today that Israeli settlers in the Gaza strip had demanded that Israeli occupying forces demolish 25 Palestinian houses along the Kissufim road, which runs through al-Mughraqa.[1]  Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) are a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Since the start of the al-Aqsa Intifada in late September 2000, Israeli occupying forces have demolished over 500 Palestinian civilian houses in the Gaza strip, rendering thousands of families homeless.  They have also razed over 15,000 donums of land, most of it agricultural (1 donum is equal to 1,000 square meters).  Most of these operations have been carried out without any judicial process, and apparently without informing the Israeli military legal advisor in advance.

At this time, PCHR is particularly concerned about two areas in addition to al-Mughraqa where Palestinian houses are under threat of demolition: Abu al-‘Ajin (approximately 20 houses) and near the Palestinian Flour Company (at least 7 houses), both in the central Gaza strip.

Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, destruction of private property is prohibited unless “rendered absolutely necessary by military operations” (Article 53).  Moreover, the extensive, wanton, and unlawful destruction of private civilian property not justified by military necessity is a grave breach of the Convention (Article 147) and thus constitutes a war crime.

In parallel with its efforts with the Israeli judicial system, PCHR will continue its international campaign with governments, human rights groups, and civil society to demand that Israel ends its policy of house demolitions and respect the Fourth Geneva Convention in the OPT.

PCHR strongly condemns violations of international humanitarian law by Israeli occupying forces and calls upon the international community to immediately fulfil its moral and legal obligations to ensure Israel’s respect of the Fourth Geneva Convention.  PCHR also calls upon the international community to provide immediate and effective international protection for Palestinian civilians in the OPT until Israel ends its 35-year belligerent military occupation of the Gaza strip and West Bank (including east Jerusalem).