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Israeli Supreme Court greenlights demolition of Palestinian attackers' homes

Xinhua, November 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Israeli Supreme Court gave the green light on Thursday to demolish the homes of Palestinian militants who executed attacks against Israelis in recent months.

Supreme Court Justice Miriam Naor rejected appeals filed by human rights groups objecting to the punitive measure that are used by the Israeli authorities to deter Palestinians from carrying out attacks.

The houses to be demolished are located in the West Bank, in Ramallah, Nablus and Kalandia (between Jerusalem and Ramallah,) according to a court protocol provided by the Israeli Court Authority Spokesperson.

These belong to the families of Palestinians allegedly responsible for the murder of a Jewish couple in a West Bank shooting attack on Oct. 1, another east Jerusalem stabbing attack that killed two on Oct. 3 and other lethal attacks from June.

The justice, however, did accept one of the requests to prevent the demolition of an eight-story building in which a family is renting an apartment, as it belongs to an uninvolved third party. The family, nonetheless, will be handed eviction notices.

Israel has demolished hundreds of Palestinian homes since 1967, the year when it occupied the West Bank, east Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and Golan Heights territories in the Mideast War, mainly as a punitive measure aimed at deterring them from committing attacks.

In early 2005, a Defense Ministry committee charged that the measure is not affective in deterring the attacks. Human rights group also charged that the measure is an unfair collective punishment.

The Israeli security cabinet has decided recently to continue practicing home demolitions, amid a weeks-long wave of growing violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Some 12 Israelis and more than 80 Palestinians have lost their lives in the violence, and Palestinian families were denied the opportunity to rebuild their homes.

The Israeli government also said that it would set up a mechanism that would expedite the demolition of homes. Endit