The practice of demolishing houses has its origins in the British Mandate of Palestine (1920-1948), during which the British government gave authority to the military commander to confiscate and demolish "any dwelling, building or land (...) whose inhabitants it is convinced have committed (...) any violation against these Rules that has led to violence."[18] During the Arab revolt in Palestine between 1936 and 1939, the British Army It frequently demolished homes in localities involved in rebel activity and sometimes destroyed entire villages. Some 2,000 Palestinian Arab homes were demolished during the duration of the uprising.[19] In 1945, Mandate authorities passed the Defense (Emergency) Regulations, and Regulation 119 made the demolition of homes available to the local military commander without limit or ability to appeal. Rule 119 established that:
Faced with the Jewish insurgency against the British in the 1940s, the British authorities only used this measure on one occasion. In August 1947, failing to crush the Jewish insurgency, the British Army received permission from the High Commissioner to demolish Jewish homes. Shortly afterward, a Jewish house in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Givat Shaul, where weapons had been found during a routine raid, was demolished.[20]
In 1968, after Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Theodor Meron, legal advisor to the Israeli Foreign Ministry "Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel)"), reported in a secret memorandum to the prime minister's office that the demolition of homes, even those of terrorist suspects, is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 regarding the protection of civilians in times of war.[14][15] Applying these measures as if they were a continuity with the emergency regulations of the British Mandate could be useful from the point of view of hasbara (propaganda) but was "unconvincing from a legal point of view".[14][15] Theodor Meron's opinion was ignored.[15] According to the American journalist Gershom Gorenberg, almost all international law scholars share this point of view, including important Israeli experts.[15].
The practice of demolishing Palestinian homes began just two days after the Israeli conquest of the old city of Jerusalem in 1967 and, more specifically, the Moroccan neighborhood, adjacent to the Western Wall. One of the first measures adopted, lacking legal authorization, was the eviction of 650 Palestinians from their homes in the heart of Jerusalem and the demolition of their homes and shrines to make way for the construction of a plaza.[21].
Before the First Intifada (1987-1993) the demolition of homes was applied only in exceptional circumstances, but during this revolt it became a common practice, since it no longer required the approval of the Minister of Defense "Ministry of Defense (Israel)") and was left to the discretion of regional commanders. Israel blew up 103 homes in 1987, and the following year the number soared to 423.[22] 510 Palestinian homes of men allegedly involved in or convicted of crimes related to Israel's security were demolished, or because the homes were accused of serving as screens for hostile actions against the Israeli army or settlers. Another 110 were bombed under the assumption that armed men were inside, and another 1,497 were demolished for lacking Israeli building permits, leaving some 10,000 children homeless. In an official letter from 1987, British authorities clarified that the legislation regulating home demolitions had been revoked in 1948.[23] Despite this, the revocation was not published in the Palestine Gazette, which was necessary at the time, and Israel still maintains the controversial policy of punitive military home demolitions under British order DER 119 OF 1945.
According to a 1999 Amnesty International report, home demolitions were often carried out without warning and the residents of the home had little time to evacuate.[24] Between September 2000 and the end of 2004, the Israeli army demolished 4,100 Palestinian homes; 628 of these demolitions, which left 3,983 people homeless, were carried out as a measure of punishment for a family member who had been involved in acts related to the Second Intifada. From 2006 to August 31, 2018, Israel demolished at least 1,360 Palestinian homes in the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem), leaving 6,115 people homeless, including at least 3,094 minors. Of these demolitions, 698 were carried out in the Jordan Valley, leaving 2,948 Palestinians homeless (1,334 of them minors). Violations of building laws are a criminal offense under Israeli law, which was extended to the West Bank in 2007. Israel has demolished (or forced their owners to demolish them) 780 homes in East Jerusalem between 2004 and 2018, leaving at least 2,766 people homeless, including 1,485 minors. The number of homes demolished in the rest of the West Bank between 2006 and September 30, 2018 is estimated to be at least 1,373, leaving 6,133 Palestinians homeless, including 3,103 minors. No Israeli settlers have ever been prosecuted for committing such violations, and only 3% of violations of building laws by settlers have resulted in the demolition of their homes.[25] Even shepherds' huts whose taxes have been duly paid can be demolished.
During the Second Intifada, the Israeli army adopted a policy of demolishing homes after a wave of suicide bombings. Israel justified this policy on the basis of anti-terrorist deterrence, to provide an incentive for the families of potential suicide bombers to try to dissuade them from carrying out their actions. Home demolitions were also carried out in the course of battles. During Operation Defensive Shield, several Israeli soldiers were killed during raids in which they searched for homes that were sheltering Palestinian militants. The Israeli army then began to surround these houses, demand their occupants to leave (whether they were civilians or militiamen) and then demolish the houses of those who had refused or had not been able to leave. In some of the bloodiest urban battles, such as the Battle of Jenin in 2002 or the 2004 Operation Rainbow in Rafah, Caterpillar IDF 9 bulldozers of the Israeli army demolished numerous Palestinian civilian homes to widen streets or roads, uncover tunnels or to secure the position of their own troops. The result was an indiscriminate use of civilian home demolitions in cases that had nothing to do with terrorism, leaving more than 1,000 people homeless in the Rafah refugee camp alone.[10][26] According to a 2004 Human Rights Watch report, many families in Rafah own a "group of houses." For example, a family may have a "small house from their early days in the camp, often with little more than an asbestos roof." When the children become independent, they build their houses near it.[27] According to the UN, approximately 1,500 houses were demolished by the Israeli army in the Palestinian city of Rafah alone between 2000 and 2004.[28].
In February 2005, the Ministry of Defense ordered an end to home demolitions as punishment for the families of suicide bombers unless there is "an extreme change in circumstances".[29] However, home demolition has continued for other reasons.[30] In 2009, after a series of suicide attacks in Jerusalem, Israel's Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Israeli army's policy of sealing the homes of suicide bombers' families with cement. Palestinian terrorists as a deterrent measure against terrorism.[31].
According to doctors who have studied a series of West Bank residents whose homes were demolished, the loss of their homes causes them a second trauma that takes them back to the Nakba ("catastrophe" in Arabic), the expulsion or flight of more than 700,000 Palestinians before, during and after the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, a traumatic event that has been engraved in the identity of the Palestinian people.[32] From the beginning From the occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1967 to 2019, according to an estimate by the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), Israel has demolished 49,532 Palestinian buildings, displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.[15][33].