A New Israeli Military Order to Escalate Forcible Displacement in Areas (C)

• Date: 2018-05-23

The Society of St. Yves – Catholic Center for Human Rights warns against the grave implications of the recent Israeli military order, issued by the Israeli Civil Administration, aimed directly at mass displacement of Palestinians from areas (C) of the West Bank.

 

In particular, the new military order targets with demolition all new buildings where construction has not been completed yet, and buildings which are not complete within six months from the date of issuing the military order. Moreover, the military order targets residential buildings (houses) which are uninhabited, even if the construction has already been complete, and also includes residential building which have been complete and actually inhabited for less than 30 days.

It is particularly alarming that in the buildings detailed above, a demolition warrant will be issued by the Israel’s Civil Administration, ordering the removal of the building within 96 hours from the time of issuing the order.  The new military order, which will be in effect as of June, 16^th, 2018,  is renewable every 2 years.

 

Although the military order allows objections by the owners of the buildings through providing evidence that the building is either licensed or included in a master plan approved by Israel’s Civil Administration, in practice that chances of objection are slim to none, and will be futile in preventing the demolitions due to Israel’s policies in areas (C) where Palestinians are constantly and systematically denied of building permits, while illegal Israeli settlements in the same areas continue to expand vastly.   

 

As such,the new military order is expected to expedite the mass forcible displacement of Palestinians in areas (C) from the one hand, while depriving them from any actual possibility to object against this grave violation from the other hand.

 

Israel’s demolition policies in areas (C) have constituted a situation of grave violations of human rights before the issuing of the new military order. However, after its issuance, the military order will set the new escalated norms in handling Palestinian construction on their own property. The military order serves indeed the Israeli attempts to complete its annexation of areas (C) through mass displacement, saving the voided areas for further settlement expansion, which constitutes a grave breach of IHL, and could mount to a war crime.