Israel to demolish home of Palestine prisoner as collective punishment

Israeli Occupation authorities have today notified the Palestinian family of a prisoner, who was accused of stabbing a settler last year, that they will demolish their house based in the village of Hajja, near the Occupied West Bank city of Qalqilya, reported Wafa news agency.

The Hailan family told Wafa that the Israeli soldiers informed their lawyer of the planned demolition and warned them that they have three days to evict from their home before they arrive with bulldozers.

The Israeli soldiers had also taken measurements of the family home in November to prepare them for demolition, an act regularly carried out by Israeli Forces and described as “collective punishment” by human rights groups.

Younis Hailan, 19, was imprisoned by Israeli soldiers after being accused of stabbing an Israeli settler to death in October.

Collective punishment is one of the most extreme measures that Israel has employed against the Palestinians. After it extended its Occupation to the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967, punitive house demolitions became a regular practice. By definition, this is intended to harm people who have done nothing illegal and are not suspected of any wrong-doing; they just happen to be related to someone who has attacked or attempted to attack Israelis.

Under international humanitarian law, no person may be punished for acts that he or she did not commit. The collective punishment of a group of persons for a crime committed by an individual is, thus, illegal, whether in the case of prisoners of war or of any other individuals. More controversially, international law permits those living under military Occupation — the Palestinians, for example — to engage in resistance to the Occupation using any means at their disposal.

READ: Israel re-arrests Palestine prisoner upon his release