In June 2016,
HaMoked contacted the military concerning 95 Palestinian families whose homes were surveyed in the period between October 12, 2015 and April 7, 2016, following the suspected involvement of one of the household in attacks against Israelis – although punitive demolition orders were not issued for these homes. The survey and mapping of the homes are not just a technical issue – they involve the arrival of large forces at the home, often late at night, stirring panic among the household members, and leaving the families in constant anxiety that their homes might be demolished.
In
its response of August 8, 2016, the military claimed the authority for this practice existed in security legislation, which allegedly granted the military general authority to enter structures and courtyards in order to carry out various activities there, such as a search, a survey or a questioning. The military refused to clarify its intentions concerning the 95 surveyed homes, due to “the sensitive and dynamic security reality”.
In
another letter from August 29, 2016, HaMoked clarified that it objected to the military’s position, and that the security legislation cited, which anyhow concerned criminal law, was irrelevant to the exercise of the administrative authority established in Regulation 119. HaMoked also said that most of the surveys were conducted in cases that did not reach the threshold of severity required for using the Regulation. In light of
the High Court of Justice’s finding in HCJ 7645/15, whereby use of the Regulation in substantial delay did not serve the deterrence objective of Regulation 119, HaMoked stressed that “it cannot be disputed that without a deterrence effect, the only thing left is the element of unlawful collective punishment”.
HaMoked repeated its demand that the military send the 95 families whose homes had been surveyed written notice on whether it intended to issue demolition orders for each home, and pointed out that if the military persisted in refusing to do so, “we would regard it as confirmation that the current policy does indeed use Regulation 119 to inspire fear and exact revenge on the families, irrespective of the actual exercise of the authority”. However the
military clung to its refusal to provide such notice to the families “in view of security and other considerations”.
On November 8, 2016, in
another letter to the military, HaMoked reasserted that the military did not have the authority to carry out surveys of homes without issuing punitive demolition orders, and that this was “clearly a punitive measure, meant to spread alarm and exact revenge on the families, although they were entirely uninvolved in the incident”. HaMoked also clarified that if this wrongful policy – currently abandoned – was revived, it would not hesitate to take legal action against it.
