The United Nations called on the Israeli occupation authorities to stop the demolition and confiscation of Palestinian property and to adhere to its obligations as an occupying power under international humanitarian law.
In a press conference of the UN in New York, Farhan Haq, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that “on Wednesday, in the community of Ras al-Tin in Ramallah governorate, 84 Palestinians lost their homes when Israeli forces confiscated at least 49 structures,”
He noted that Palestinians use the area in the summer as a grazing land “but are now at heightened risk of forcible transfer from the area.”
“The UN has repeatedly called on Israel to halt its demolition and confiscation of Palestinian property and adhere to its obligations as an occupying power under international humanitarian law”, added Haq.
Haq stressed that “According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Israeli forces demolished at least 421 Palestinian-owned structures in the occupied West Bank this year.
The report issued on Friday indicated that 150 of the destroyed buildings were funded by “international donors,” adding that the demolitions “led to the displacement of 656 people, including about 359 children, in various parts of the West Bank.”
“This represents a 32% increase in the number of targeted buildings, a nearly 145% increase in donor-funded buildings targeting, and a more than 70% increase in the displaced population, compared to the corresponding period of 2020,”.
OCHA pointed out that international humanitarian law requires the occupying power to “secure protection for the population of the territory it occupies, to ensure their well-being and respect for their human rights.”
It also added, “The occupying power is prohibited from destroying any civilian property unless military operations inevitably require such destruction, which is irrelevant in the West Bank, where no hostilities are taking place at the present time.”
“The large-scale destruction of property constitutes a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and may amount to a war crime”.
Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) had stated in an urgent appeal, that the Israeli displacement practices come within the plan to Judaize Jerusalem since the 1948 war, using all illegal tricks and practices in order to eradicate all Palestinian signs or Arab identity in the occupied city.
AOHR UK stressed the need to urgently submit all files of family displacement and house demolition in Jerusalem to the International Criminal Court to hold accountable all those responsible for the crimes of demolition and displacement, including Israeli judges who play an important role in the settlers’ control of Palestinian properties in occupied Jerusalem.
