In the past few days, HaMoked filed eleven
objections to the punitive demolition orders issued by the military against seven residences of West Bank Palestinians who either committed or are suspected of committing attacks in recent months. Six objections were filed on behalf of the families; four on behalf of neighbors living near the targeted apartments or buildings; and one on behalf of both the family and the neighbors,
On October 19, 2015,
the military rejected ten of the eleven objections filed by HaMoked; HaMoked intends to petition the High Court of Justice (HCJ) in all ten cases within 48 hours from the time of the rejection. In rejecting the objections, the reiterated the all too familiar arguments, such as that “the military commander intends to achieve a clear goal of deterrence”, which, according to the military, cannot be obtained “by employing an alternative sanction”. The rejections also reveal that the military will no longer restrict itself to the partial sealing or demolition of structures , as was customary in certain cases until recently, but will now insist that the purported deterrence through house demolition can only be achieved “by demolishing the whole apartment”(!).
In response to the neighbors’ objections, the military gave nothing but the worn out statement that the demolition would be carried out “in consideration of the need to avoid as much as possible damage to adjacent structures or those parts of the structure that are not slated for demolition”. In one of the cases, the objection – which was a double objection, filed on behalf of both the family and the neighbors – challenged the military’s demolition order against a residential building in Nablus, because it contained a major discrepancy between the Hebrew and Arabic versions: while the Hebrew announced that both floors were to be demolished, the Arabic stated only one. Despite this error, which warranted the cancelation of the order, the military clarified that the Hebrew version prevailed, and that it was the military commander’s intention to demolish the two upper floors of the house.
Another objection sought the cancelation of the order for the demolition of a house in Surda in the Ramallah District. This house in question is a rented house with two floors: the suspect in the attack committed on October 3, 2015, lived in certain part of the upper floor. In response to HaMoked’s request – to at least limit the damage to the that section of the floor where the youth had lived – the military asked that a floorplan of the entire apartment marking the specific section where the suspect had lived be sent to it by noontime, October 20, 2015.
