Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) condemned, in the strongest possible terms, Israel’s imminent plan to demolish 10 buildings in the occupied East Jerusalem town of Sur Bahir, which will result in the displacement of three Palestinian families, totaling 17 people, including 9 children.
Erekat said in a statement:
“If the planned demolitions take place, Israel’s actions will constitute a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention as well as war crimes pursuant to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.”
A group of Palestinians who gathered at Sur Baher in east Jerusalem to protest the planned demolition of homes were dispersed by Israeli forces https://t.co/NEEVLDkzlt
— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) July 20, 2019
Israel’s illegal policies and practices, ranging from home demolitions and forced displacement to the destruction of Palestinian livelihoods, in East Jerusalem and the rest of occupied Palestine, serve one purpose: the preservation and expansion of the Israeli colonial-settlement enterprise at the expense of Palestinian land and people, he added.
The demolition of Palestinian-owned buildings by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem is a routine occurrence. https://t.co/HnkgoO5Veu
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) July 17, 2019
Palestinians have no recourse, as the Israeli judicial system has repeatedly shown its complicity in Israel’s illegal colonial-settlement enterprise. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the international community to immediately intervene to halt the demolitions in Sur Bahir and hold Israel to account for its repeated violations of international law, the statement concluded.
(Middle East Monitor, PC, Social Media)
