The Israeli authorities ordered on Friday, 4 November 2021, the demolition of a Palestinian building in Al-Tur town in occupied Jerusalem.
As a result, ten Palestinian families consisting of 70 people including children and women are at risk of being forcibly displaced from their homes.
The Israeli authorities gave the families only a few days to evacuate their apartments before the demolition process.
The demolition order came as part of Israel’s systematic displacement policy in occupied Palestinian territories.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) over the past 10 years Israel has demolished more than 1,100 structures in occupied East Jerusalem, displacing more than 2,000 people and impacting the lives of more than 6,000 people.
House demolitions have been central tools to facilitate Israel’s land appropriation and dispossession in the occupied Palestinian territories.
As an occupying power, Israel is prevented under international human rights law from changing the laws and customs in occupied territory, transferring populations in and out of occupied territory, destroying private property and forcible transfer, and discriminating on national, racial or ethnic grounds.
Thus, Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) stresses that this Israeli demolition order is a flagrant violation of international laws and norms and constitutes a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Conventions.
