2023-08-28 15:25:16
Demolition of a house by the Israeli authorities. © AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images.
The Supreme Court of Israel has today approved the Punitive demolition of the family home of a 13-year-old Palestinian boy who has been in detention for six months awaiting trial on unfair charges. In February 2023, Mohammed Zalabani stabbed an Israeli border policeman on a bus at a checkpoint in the Shu’afat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem. Although he was subdued, moments later an Israeli private security guard accidentally killed the policeman by shooting with his gun.
Despite the fact that the autopsy determined that it was the shot that had caused the death of the border policeman, Mohammed Zalabani He was charged with murder and is awaiting trial in a juvenile facility. Following the attack, the Israeli army ordered the punitive demolition of the third-floor apartment where the parents and Mohammed Zalabani’s three siblings, one of whom is a baby. The Israeli human rights organization HaMoked filed an appeal against the order, which was rejected by the Supreme Court.
“Israel’s punitive demolitions are a form of collective punishment, and constitute a serious breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and a war crime. Today’s ruling demonstrates that Israel’s utter disregard for international law affects all institutions. It is also a reminder of the role of the Supreme Court in imposing apartheid against the Palestinian people,” said Khulood Badawi, Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories campaign manager at Amnesty International.
“Mohammed Zalabani’s siblings and parents, who had nothing to do with the attack, are now facing the loss of their homes and displacement due to an act of revenge totally unrelated to justice and the rule of law, and their son Mohammed, who is just a child and is in custody, to a long sentence for a crime he did not commit.”
The prosecutor in the case has acknowledged that Mohammed Zalabani acted entirely alone and that his family did not know that he was going to carry out the attack.
Punitive demolitions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories are often accompanied by violent army raids that can cause serious damage to neighboring houses and sow terror in entire Palestinian communities, being one of the measures that the Israeli authorities use to oppress and dominate the Palestinian population.
Additional information
The Israeli authorities routinely use punitive demolitions against relatives of Palestinians who have carried out attacks or suspected attacks against Israeli forces or civilians. The Supreme Court approves most punitive demolition orders on the grounds that they deter potential attacks in the future. In 2005, punitive demolitions were suspended on the recommendation of a military commission, which found that they had no deterrent effect against Palestinian attacks on Israelis. However, this policy was resumed in 2014, and since then hundreds of Palestinians have lost their homes.
Punitive demolitions are a form of collective punishment and constitute a serious breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The Human Rights Committee and the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights have called on Israel to abandon this practice. Under Israeli law, the minimum age of criminal responsibility is 12 years, but the Committee on the Rights of the Child urges States to raise this age to at least 14 years.
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