Wide-Scale Demolition Amounting to Ethnic Cleansing, Israeli Occupation Demolishes 70 Facilities in the Northern Valley Displacing 60 Palestinians
Ref: 117/2020
Date: 04 November 2020
Time: 18:30 GMT
On Tuesday evening, 03 November 2020, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) carried out a large-scale demolition operation against civilian properties in Hemsa al-Foqa area in the northern Jordan valleys, eastern Tubas. Seventy homes and facilities were demolished, displacing 60 Palestinians (mostly children), in the 6-hour operation. The demolitions were preceded by the confiscation of 16 vehicles and 5 water tanks in a nearby area in the valleys. Yesterday’s operation comes within an accelerated campaign by IOF to demolish and destroy Palestinians’ homes and properties in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, under the Israeli annexation and settlement-expansion schemes in what can only be considered an act of ethnic cleansing against the indigenous Palestinian population.
According to PCHR’s investigations, at approximately 12:00 on Tuesday IOF, accompanied by Israeli Civil Administration SUVs and construction vehicles, moved into Kherbet Hemsa al-Foqa in the northern Jordan valleys, eastern Tubas. The construction vehicles proceeded to demolish 70 civilian properties, including barracks and residential tents that sheltered 11 families (total 60 persons, mostly children). IOF demolished 11 residential tents, 27 barracks, some used for housing, and several barns, as well as, kitchens, mobile-lavatories, water tanks and other properties. IOF also confiscated two tractors and a private Subaru car.
Earlier on Tuesday, IOF moved into Khirbet Ibziq in northern Jordan valleys, eastern Tubas. The Israeli soldiers raided civilians’ houses and confiscated the following items: 9 tractors, 5 water tanks, 5 carts and 2 private vehicles. IOF aims at vacating the area and expelling its indigenous residents.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights condemns the Israeli demolitions and confiscation of Palestinian properties and warns against the threat of the continued Israeli attempts to displace Palestinians and out them from their lands by destroying their houses and confiscating/demolishing their properties. This is an Israeli systematic policy to impose a fait accompli to enforce its control and sovereignty on parts of the West Bank.
PCHR recalls that Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 prohibits “Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons ..” unless “the security of the population or imperative military reasons so demand.” Additionally, Article 7.1.d of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court stipulates that “Deportation or forcible transfer of population when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population is a crime against humanity.” Also, Article 6, 7, and 8 of the Rome Statute assert that “Deportation or forcible transfer of population” is a war crime.
PCHR calls upon the international community and United Nations bodies to uphold their legal and moral duties, and to urgently intervene to stop the Israeli occupation’s crime against Palestinians and to guarantee their protection.
