Israeli demolition of Palestinian property

Two demolished apartment homes of the 8-member Idris family, their relative, her husband and their two children (Beit Hanina, 2014)

Demolition of Palestinian property is a method Israel has used in the Israeli-occupied territories since they came under its control in the Six-Day War to achieve various aims. Broadly speaking, demolitions can be classified as either administrative, punitive/dissuasive and as part of military operations.[1] The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions estimated that Israel had razed 55,048 Palestinian structures as of 2022.[2] In the first several months of the ongoing Israel–Hamas war, Israel further demolished over 2,000 Palestinian homes in the West Bank.[3]

Administrative house demolitions are done to enforce building codes and regulations, which in the occupied Palestinian territories are set by the Israeli military.[4] Critics claim that they are used as a means to Judaize parts of the occupied territory, especially East Jerusalem.[5] Punitive house demolitions involve demolishing houses of Palestinians or neighbors and relatives of Palestinians suspected of violent acts against Israelis. These target the homes where the suspects live. Proponents of the method claim that it deters violence[6][7][8][9] while critics claim that it has not been proven effective and might even trigger more violence.[10] Punitive house demolitions have been criticized by a Palestinian human rights organization as a form of collective punishment and thus a war crime under international law.[11]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Amnesty-rubble was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)". ICAHD. Archived from the original on 2023-01-07. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  3. ^ Ruth Michaelson, Sufian Taha and Quique Kierszenbaum, ‘The demolitions are equal to death’: the Palestinian families whose West Bank homes have been bulldozed The Guardian 10 August 2024: "Over 2,000 homes have been demolished by Israel since October 2,155 Palestinians the UN estimates have been displaced across the West Bank in the aftermath of the 7 October. . . Since October, the Israeli government has claimed over 24,000 acres of land in the West Bank as under state control, the largest since the Oslo accords."
  4. ^ "Document - Israel/Occupied Territories: House Demolition". Amnesty International. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  5. ^ "Demolition and dispossession: the destruction of Palestinian homes" (PDF). Amnesty International. p. 31. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-04-27. Retrieved 2020-08-12. The objective of the Israeli authorities since then has been to transform the ethnic character of the annexed area from Arab to Jewish. The policy has been set by Israeli governments and largely implemented by the Jerusalem Municipality.
  6. ^ House demolitions as punishment Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine B'Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
  7. ^ Efraim Benmelech, Claude Berrebi, and Esteban F. Klor, 'Counter-Suicide-Terrorism: Evidence from House Demolitions,' Archived 2015-11-30 at the Wayback Machine in The Journal of Politics, vol. 77, no. 1 (January 2015), pp. 27–43.
  8. ^ Ludovica Iaccino, ['Israel's punitive demolition of Palestinian terrorist houses 'decreases suicide attacks','] International Business Times, 10 December 2014.
  9. ^ According to the study "Counter-Suicide-Terrorism: Evidence from House Demolitions," demolishing the homes of Palestinian terrorists results in "an immediate, significant decrease in the number of suicide attacks."Blank, Cynthia (2014-12-11). "Study Finds Israeli Home Demolitions Do Deter Terrorists". Arutz Sheva. Archived from the original on 2017-08-03. Retrieved 2015-01-25.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kober was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Shane Darcy (2003). "Israel's Punitive House Demolition Policy Collective Punishment in Violation of International Law" (PDF). Al-Haq. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-09-27. Retrieved 2020-08-12. Israel's punitive house demolition policy constitutes one of the most egregiousof war crimes. The actions taken under this policy meet all the elements of thewar crime of extensive destruction of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.