The crisis between Israel and Palestine is not just in Gaza, where the two-week war has killed almost 700 Gazans.
The catalyst for the conflict, the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers last month has also bolstered the renewed demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank.
Sudarsan Raghavan reports for The Washington Post:
Said Kawasmeh received the order from Israel’s military last week. His two-story house was to be demolished, and his large family had 48 hours to leave.
Their crime: Kawasmeh’s son is a key suspect in the brutal kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers whose fates helped reignite the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The son, Marwan, has disappeared. So Israel has zeroed in on his family.
“I built this house, and I own it,” lamented Kawasmeh, seated on a chair inside his empty house. Outside, the family’s possessions lay in boxes and shopping bags, or scattered on the ground. “Why do they want to punish me?”
As Israel pummels Hamas’s infrastructure inside Gaza, it is also trying to prevent attacks originating from the West Bank and Israel by obliterating the houses of the relatives of Palestinians who allegedly harmed Israelis. In doing so, Israel’s military has returned to a controversial policy of punitive demolitions that has displaced thousands of Palestinians over the years.
The policy — different from Israel’s ongoing practice of destroying Palestinian structures it claims are unauthorized or built without valid permits — had been abandoned nine years ago because the military deemed it an ineffective deterrent against the Palestinian militancy.
Since the policy was reintroduced last month, the family house of a Palestinian charged in the shooting death of an Israeli civilian has been demolished. Now, the houses of Kawasmeh and two other suspects in the murders of the Israeli youths are on the list. On behalf of the families, human rights lawyers have appealed to the Israeli military to stop the demolitions, and if needed, plan to also petition Israel’s highest court. But the activists said they don’t expect to succeed, and that the houses will likely be demolished as early as this week.
“Regardless of the situation, it is morally outrageous to punish individuals or families for the action of others, who have not been involved in any kind of law breaking,” said Sarit Michaeli, a spokesperson for B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group. “In a nutshell, it is an official policy of harming the innocent.”
Israeli government officials say Palestinian militants are considered heroes by their communities, who shower them and their families with money and other forms of financial support. Such encouragement helps perpetuate a cycle of militancy, the officials say.
“The defense community, the government and intelligence communities, all believe that using demolitions can serve as a deterrent that can balance somewhat these inducements,” said a senior Israeli government official who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to speak freely. “It levels the playing field.”
