Israeli demolition of Palestinian property

An IDF Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer razing a house during the Second Intifada (2000–2005)

Demolitions are carried out by the Israeli Army Combat Engineering Corps using armored bulldozers, usually Caterpillar D9, but also with excavators (for high multi-story buildings) and wheel loaders (for small houses with low risk) modified by the IDF. The heavily armored IDF Caterpillar D9 is often used when there is a risk demolishing the building (such as when armed insurgents are barricaded inside or the structure is rigged with explosives and booby traps). Multi-story buildings, flats, and explosive laboratories are demolished by explosive devices, set by IDF demolition experts of Yaalom's Sayeret Yael. Amnesty International has also described house demolitions that were carried out by the IDF using "powerful explosive charges".[1]

The Idris family collecting their belongings after the demolition (Beit Hanina, 2014)

Some house demolitions are allegedly performed because the houses may have been built without permits, or are in violation of various building codes, ordinances, or regulations. Amnesty International claims that Israeli authorities are in fact systematically denying building permit requests in Arab areas as a means of appropriating land.[1] This is disputed by Israeli sources, who claim that both Arabs and Jews enjoy a similar rate of application approvals.[11]

Dr. Meir Margalit of Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions writes:

"The thinking is that a national threat calls for a national response, invariably aggressive. Accordingly, a Jewish house without a permit is an urban problem; but a Palestinian home without a permit is a strategic threat. A Jew building without a permit is 'cocking a snook at the law'; a Palestinian doing the same is defying Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem."[12]

A Palestinian home after demolition by Israeli military forces

Although revoked by the British[13][14] the Mandatory Palestine Defence (Emergency) Regulations were adopted by Israel on its formation.[15] These regulations gave authority to military commanders to confiscate and raze "any house, structure or land... the inhabitants of which he is satisfied have committed... any offence against these Regulations involving violence."[16]

In 1968, after Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza, Theodor Meron, then legal adviser to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, advised the Prime Minister's office in a top secret memorandum that house demolitions, even of suspected terrorists' residences, violated the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians in war. Undertaking such measures, as though they were in continuity with British mandatory emergency regulations, might be useful as hasbara but were "legally unconvincing". The advice was ignored. His view, according to Gershom Gorenberg, is shared by nearly all scholars of international law, prominent Israeli experts included.[17] The practice of demolishing Palestinian houses began within two days of the conquest of the area in the Old City of Jerusalem known as the Moroccan Quarter, adjacent to the Western Wall. One of the first measures adopted, without legal authorization, on the conquest of Jerusalem in 1967 was to evict 650 Palestinians from their homes in the heart of Jerusalem, and reduce their homes and shrines to rubble in order to make way for the construction of the plaza.[18][19] From the outset of the occupation of the Palestinian territories up to 2019, according to an estimate by the ICAHD, Israel has razed 49,532 Palestinian structures, with a concomitant displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.[20] Israel regards its practice as a form of deterrence of terrorism, since a militant is thereby forced to consider the effect of his actions on his family. Before the First Intifada, the measure was considered to be used only in exceptional circumstances, but with that uprising it became commonplace, no longer requiring the Defense Minister's approval but a measure left to the discretion of regional commanders.[21] Israel blew up 103 houses in 1987; the following year the number rose to 423.[22] 510 Palestinian homes of men alleged to be involved in or convicted of security offenses, or because the homes were said to function as screens for actions hostile to the Israeli army or settlers, were demolished. A further 110 were shelled in the belief armed men were inside, and overall another 1,497 were razed for lacking Israeli building permits, leaving an estimated 10,000 children homeless.[23] Between September 2000 and the end of 2004, of the 4,100 homes the IDF razed in the territories, 628, housing 3,983 people, were undertaken as punishment because a member of a family had been involved in the Second Intifada.[24] From 2006 until 31 August 2018, Israel demolished at least 1,360 Palestinian residential units in the West Bank (not including East Jerusalem), causing 6,115 people – including at least 3,094 minors – to lose their homes.[25] 698 of these, homes to 2,948 Palestinians of whom 1,334 were minors, were razed in the Jordan Valley (January 2006–September 2017).[26] Violations of building codes are a criminal offense in Israeli law, and this was only extended to the West Bank in 2007. Israel has demolished or compelled the owners to demolish, 1097 homes in East Jerusalem between 2004 and 2020, leaving 3,579 people of whom 1,899 minors, homeless.[27] The number of homes demolished in the rest of the West Bank from 2006 until 30 September 2018 is estimated to be at least 1,373, resulting in homelessness for 6,133 Palestinians, including 3,103 minors.[28] No settler has ever been prosecuted for engaging in such infractions, and only 3% of reported violations by settlers have led to demolitions.[29] Even huts by shepherds, on which taxes have been duly paid, can be demolished.[lower-alpha 1]

During the Second Intifada, the IDF adopted a policy of house demolition following a wave of suicide bombings. Israel justified the policy on the basis of deterrence against terrorism, and providing an incentive for families of potential suicide bombers to dissuade the bomber from attacking. Demolitions can also occur in the course of fighting. During Operation Defensive Shield, several IDF soldiers were killed early in the conflict while searching houses containing militants. In response, the IDF started employing a tactic of surrounding such houses, calling on the occupants (civilian and militant) to exit, and demolishing the house on top of the militants that do not surrender. This tactic, called nohal sir lachatz (Hebrew: נוהל סיר לחץ, lit. 'pressure pot'), is now used whenever feasible (i.e., non-multi rise building that is separated from other houses). In some heavy fighting incidents, especially in the 2002 Battle of Jenin and Operation Rainbow in Rafah 2004, heavily armored IDF Caterpillar D9 bulldozers were used to demolish houses to widen alleyways, uncover tunnels, or to secure locations for IDF troops. The result was an indiscriminate use of demolitions against civilian housing unconnected to terrorism that left 1,000 people homeless in the Rafah Refugee Camp.[9][31]

According to a report by Amnesty International in 1999, house demolitions are usually done without prior warning and the home's inhabitants are given little time to evacuate.[32] According to a 2004 Human Rights Watch report, many families in Rafah own a "cluster of homes". For example, the family may own a "small house from earlier days in the camp, often with nothing more than an asbestos roof". Later, sons will build homes nearby when they start their own families.[33]

In February 2005, the Ministry of Defense ordered an end to the demolition of houses for the purpose of punishing the families of suicide bombers unless there is "an extreme change in circumstances".[34] However, house demolitions continue for other reasons.[35]

In 2009, after a string of fatal attacks by Palestinians against Israelis in Jerusalem, the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled in favor of the IDF to seal with cement the family homes of Palestinian terrorists as a deterrent against terrorism.[36] As a punitive measure, one study by a Northwestern and Hebrew University group concluded that prompt demolitions brought about a lowering of suicide attacks for a month and that they are an effective deterrent against terrorism. They are related to the identity of the house's owner, and result in a "significant decrease" of Palestinian terrorists attacks.[8] Conversely, an internal IDF report of 2005, analyzing the effectiveness of the policy during the Second Intifada in which 3,000 civilian homes were demolished, found that terror attacks increased after house demolitions, only stimulated hatred of Israel, the damage caused outweighed any benefits, and recommended the practice be dropped.[9][37]

Amnesty International has criticized the lack of due process in the use of house demolitions by Israel. Many demolitions are carried out with no warning or opportunity for the householder to appeal. In 2002, a proposed demolition case was appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court who ruled that there must be a right to appeal unless doing so would "endanger the lives of Israelis or if there are combat activities in the vicinity." In a later ruling, the Supreme Court decided that demolitions without advanced warning or due process can be carried out if advance notice would hinder demolition. Amnesty describes this as "a virtual green light" to demolition with no warning.[1]

Palestinian identity is deeply impregnated with the sense of national loss and place engendered by the Nakba, and according to physicians studying West Bankers who have had their homes destroyed, such events cause a retraumatization of the Nakba in the families affected.[38][39]

On 8 July 2021, Israeli army forces demolished a luxurious mansion in Turmus Ayya which was the family home of Sanaa Shalabi, who lived alone there with three of her seven children. She was the estranged wife of Muntasir Shalabi, a Palestinian-American who murdered an Israeli citizen in May. The wife has been separated from Muntasir since 2008, and her husband had married three other women in the meantime, and stayed in the home two months every year for family visits. The U.S. Embassy in Israel stated that "the home of an entire family should not be demolished for the actions of one individual."[40][41] Gideon Levy called this demolition an instance of apartheid since Jewish terrorists never have their family homes destroyed.[41]

Demolition of Palestinian-owned structures and the resulting displacement of people from their homes across the West Bank since 2009. Source OCHA.

At least 741 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem were made homeless between January and 30 September 2020 due to demolitions, according to data compiled by Israeli rights group B'tselem.[42]

As of August 23, 2020, 89 residential units were demolished in East Jerusalem, compared to 104 in 2019 and 72 in 2018. In the first three weeks of August, 24 homes were demolished.[43]

The Palestinian village Aqabah, located in the northeastern West Bank, is threatened by demolition orders issued by the Israeli Civil Administration against the entire village.[44] The Civil Administration had previously expropriated large areas of privately registered land in the village, and as of May 2008 it has threatened to demolish the following structures: the mosque, the British government-funded medical clinic, the internationally funded kindergarten, the Rural Women's Association building, the roads, the water tank, and nearly all private homes. According to the Rebuilding Alliance, a California-based organization that opposes house demolitions, Haj Sami Sadek, the mayor of the village, has circulated an open letter asking for assistance.[45][46] Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc, and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions are said to be supporting the campaign.

The use of house demolition under international law is today governed by the Fourth Geneva Convention, enacted in 1949, which protects non-combatants in occupied territories. Article 53 provides that "Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons ... is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations."[57] House demolition is considered a form of collective punishment.[58] According to the law of occupation, the destruction of property, save for reasons of absolute military necessity, is prohibited.[59]

However, Israel, which is a party to the Fourth Geneva Convention, asserts that the terms of the Convention are not applicable to the Palestinian territories on the grounds that the territories do not constitute a state which is a party to the Fourth Geneva Convention.[60][61][62] This position is rejected by human rights organisations such as Amnesty International, which notes that "it is a basic principle of human rights law that international human rights treaties are applicable in all areas in which states parties exercise effective control, regardless of whether or not they exercise sovereignty in that area."[1]

• Forced displacement
• Internally displaced person
• 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict § Destruction of homes
• Roof knocking

• Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions
• B'Tselem - Statistics on demolition of houses built without permits in the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem)
• The Rebuilding Alliance
• A Layman's Guide to Home Demolitions in East Jerusalem: An Ir Amim Report
• The Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem: Latest information about home demolition in Jerusalem