On June 15, 2016, the High Court of Justice (HCJ) rejected HaMoked’s petition to cancel the intended demolition of the family home of a young perpetrator of an attack against Israelis in Jaffa on March 8, 2016. The demolition order targets the middle floor of a house in Hajjah Village, Qalqiliya District.
The judgment dismissed HaMoked’s assertion that the demolition decision was disproportionate given that the son had been living away from the family home for years, working in Israel all the while. The justices determined that the young man had no other dwelling place and that his occasional visits to his parents’ home satisfied the occupancy link required for using Regulation 119.
The justices ruled that the decision to demolish the home was proportionate considering the severity of the attack and the public support it received from Hamas. The justices also addressed the need for effective deterrence of potential assailants.
Following
the HCJ hearing, the state undertook to use a manual demolition technique, rather than a “controlled blast” of the apartment’s external walls, as initially planned. However, the state rejected the court’s recommendation to consider sealing the home instead of demolishing it. The judgment ruled that under the circumstances, the state’s demolition decision did not exceed “the bounds of reason and proportionality to warrant judicial intervention”.
The court ruled that the interim order suspending the demolition will be lifted five days after the judgment.
