Netanyahu Must Stop The Immoral Demolition Of West Bank Homes
Once again, Israel’s High Court is serving as the feeble echo of the defense establishment.
Haaretz Editorial | Jul. 6, 2014 | 6:00 AM
The Israel Defense Forces rushed to destroy the house of Ziad Awad, suspected of murdering an off-duty policeman, after the High Court of Justice rejected a petition against demolishing the home. The IDF is now preparing for the demolition of dozens more houses in the West Bank. This immoral, inane policy — which breaches international law and which the IDF itself has deemed futile — is returning.
Over the weekend IDF officials visited the town of Awarta in the West Bank and measured the houses of the two men convicted of murdering the Fogel family. Other homes are also slated to be demolished: that of Nidal Amar, who abducted and murdered the soldier Tomer Hazan; that of the minor who murdered the soldier Eden Attias; and that of the murderers of Col. (res.) Seraiah Ofer. So are the houses of the two men suspected of abducting and killing the three yeshiva students in the West Bank: Marwan Qawasmeh and Amer Abu Aisheh.
The IDF is also considering the demolition of houses of Hamas leaders in the West Bank — people who were arrested during the search for the three teens — and of Palestinian prisoners released in the Gilad Shalit deal in 2011.
Had the High Court rejected, as it was expected to do, the petition against a suspect’s house, the IDF wouldn’t have dared to prepare for dozens more demolitions. But the court chose once again to serve as the feeble echo of the defense establishment. It caved entirely.
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