{"id":4293,"date":"2018-04-25T17:45:20","date_gmt":"2018-04-25T17:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/?p=4293"},"modified":"2018-05-12T17:50:04","modified_gmt":"2018-05-12T17:50:04","slug":"4293-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jahalin.org\/archive\/?p=4293","title":{"rendered":"Israel: Army Demolishing West Bank Schools Could Amount to War Crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(New York, April 25, 2018) \u2013\u00a0Israel<\/a>\u00a0has repeatedly denied Palestinians permits to build schools in the West Bank and demolished schools built without permits, making it more difficult or impossible for thousands of children to get an education, Human Rights Watch said today. On April 25, 2018, Israel\u2019s high court will hold what may be the final hearing on the military\u2019s plans to demolish a school in Khan al-Ahmar Ab al-Hilu, a Palestinian community. It is one of the\u00a044 Palestinian schools<\/a>\u00a0at risk of full or partial demolition because Israeli authorities say they were built illegally.<\/p>\n

The Israeli military refuses to permit most new Palestinian construction in the 60 percent of the West Bank where it has exclusive control over planning and building, even as the military facilitates settler construction. The military has enforced this discriminatory system by razing thousands of Palestinian properties, including schools, creating pressure on Palestinians to leave their communities. When Israeli authorities have demolished schools, they have not taken steps to ensure that children in the area have access to schools of at least the same quality.<\/div>\n

\u201cIsraeli authorities have been getting away for years with demolishing primary schools and preschools in Palestinian communities,\u201d said\u00a0Bill Van Esveld<\/a>, senior children\u2019s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. \u201cThe Israeli military\u2019s refusal to issue building permits and then knocking down schools without permits is discriminatory and violates children\u2019s right to education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israeli military authorities have demolished or confiscated Palestinian school buildings or property in the West Bank at least 16 times since 2010, with 12 incidents since 2016, repeatedly targeting some schools, Human Rights Watch found. Over a third of Palestinian communities in Area C, the 60 percent of the West Bank where the Israeli military has exclusive control over building under the 1993 Oslo accords, currently\u00a0do not have primary schools<\/a>, and\u00a010,000 children<\/a>\u00a0attend school in tents, shacks, or other structures without heating or air-conditioning, according to the UN. About 1,700 children had to walk five or more kilometers to school due to road closures, lack of passable roads or transportation, or other problems,\u00a0according<\/a>\u00a0to 2015 UN estimates. The long distances and fear of harassment by settlers or the military lead some parents to take their children out of school, with a\u00a0disproportionate impact on girls<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe school has become the lifeline for this and the five surrounding communities,\u201d said a community leader in Khan al-Ahmar Ab al-Hilu, known as Abu Khamis, about a school under threat of demolition that was built with humanitarian aid. The school also offers literacy instruction for adults. He said that children previously had to travel 15 to 22 kilometers to school, but that now, \u201cA child can go to school without risking accidents or dealing with [taxi drivers] and the city. Now all girls go to school.\u201d He said that the international community had helped build the school and added, \u201cIs the international community unable to protect it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Most West Bank\u00a0schools at risk of demolition<\/a>\u00a0fall within Area C. Israel justifies its demolition of\u00a0schools<\/a>\u00a0and other Palestinian property there not on security grounds, but rather on the grounds that they were built without permits from the military. However, the military\u00a0refuses the vast majority<\/a>\u00a0of Palestinian building requests, and has\u00a0zoned only 1 percent of Area C<\/a>\u00a0for Palestinian building, even as construction proceeds with few constraints in nearby Jewish settlements.<\/p>\n

A Palestinian community leader in the Jordan Valley, Abu Sakker,\u00a0told Human Rights Watch<\/a>\u00a0that Israeli restrictions had reduced three communities that had a total of 150 families in 1997 to 45 families in 2010.\u00a0Haaretz<\/em>\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0in 2010 that Israeli demolitions and the de facto ban on construction had led 180 families \u2013 up to 1,000 people \u2013 to leave Jiftlik, the largest Palestinian community in Area C. A Palestinian refugee rights group, Badil, documented\u00a0cases of forcible transfer<\/a>\u00a0in a 2017 report.<\/p>\n

Schools in three Palestinian communities in Area C, east of Jerusalem, are at particular risk. Israeli authorities are trying to demolish trailers used as a preschool for 25 children in\u00a0Jabal al-Baba<\/a>\u00a0that replaced a building the military dismantled in August 2017. Israeli settlers have repeatedly petitioned the courts to order the military to demolish the school in\u00a0Khan al-Ahmar Ab al-Hilu<\/a>, the only school accessible to 160 children from five villages in the area. The Israeli military is trying to move the residents to a different area over their strong objections. In\u00a0al-Muntar<\/a>, Israel\u2019s high court has rejected a petition challenging a demolition order against the school and issued an injunction against using the school. A new petition, demanding that the military assesses a building plan submitted by the village\u2019s residents, is still pending in court. The court temporarily enjoined the military from demolishing the school and scheduled a hearing for July 1.<\/p>\n

The three communities are among\u00a046 Palestinian communities<\/a>\u00a0that the UN considers at \u201chigh risk of forcible transfer<\/a>\u201d due to an Israeli \u201crelocation\u201d plan that would forcibly evict the entire communities.<\/p>\n

The school demolitions are consistent with other actions that make communities unviable, such as home demolitions, and the refusal to zone the communities or grant them connections to utilities like water and electricity, Human Rights Watch said. Since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office on March 31, 2009, Israeli forces have demolished 5,351 Palestinian buildings in the West Bank for lack of building permits, including East Jerusalem, displacing 7,988 people, including more than 4,100 children, based on UN\u00a0data<\/a>. Israel has not offered resettlement options or compensation to families whose homes were demolished during this period.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s destruction of Palestinian schools, and its failure to replace them, violates its obligation as\u00a0an occupying power<\/a>\u00a0to \u201cfacilitate the proper working of all institutions devoted to the care and education of children,\u201d and violates the prohibition on\u00a0interfering<\/a>\u00a0with the activities of educational institutions or requisitioning their property. International law\u00a0prohibits<\/a>\u00a0an occupying power from destroying property, including schools, unless \u201cabsolutely necessary\u201d for \u201cmilitary operations.\u201d The Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court prohibit widespread, unlawful destruction of property as a war crime.<\/p>\n

The intentional forcible transfer of civilians within an occupied territory \u2013 the movement of people under duress to a place not of their choosing \u2013 is also a grave breach of the laws of war. The Rome Statute states that forcible transfer can occur \u201cdirectly or indirectly,\u201d through coercive circumstances as well as direct force. Israel\u2019s demolitions of schools are part of a policy that has forced Palestinians to leave their communities.<\/p>\n

Parties to the Geneva Conventions are obliged to \u201censure respect\u201d for the law of occupation, and to prosecute \u201cgrave breaches\u201d \u2013 including the war crimes of wanton destruction and forcible transfer \u2013 regardless of the country in which the crimes took place. Countries should investigate individuals whom evidence suggests may be responsible for these crimes and prosecute those over whom they have jurisdiction. The International Criminal Court prosecutor should also examine the school demolitions as part of her\u00a0ongoing preliminary examination<\/a>\u00a0into the situation in Palestine.<\/p>\n

The European Union or its member states financially\u00a0supported<\/a>\u00a021 of the 36 schools in Area C of the West Bank that are at risk of demolition. The other at-risk schools are in East Jerusalem. Hundreds of the structures Israel has demolished were financed by\u00a0foreign donors<\/a>, including 400\u00a0European<\/a>-funded structures.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsraeli officials should be on notice that razing dozens of Palestinian schools not only can block children from getting an education, but may be an international crime,\u201d Van Esveld said. \u201cAs part of their efforts to support Palestinian schools, other countries should demand that those destroying schools should be held to account.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more details about the schools at risk of demolition, a timeline of recent school demolitions, and the applicable international law, see below.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Khan al-Ahmar Ab al-Hilu<\/strong><\/p>\n

About 180 people, including 90 children, live in\u00a0Khan al-Ahmar Ab al-Hilu<\/a>, a community east of Jerusalem established in the early 1950s \u2013 before Israel occupied the West Bank \u2013 by Bedouin Palestine refugees from the Negev desert. Israeli military planning documents do not recognize the community as a residential area, and allocate its land to the large, neighboring settlement of Maale Adumim. Israeli authorities have on\u00a0many occasions<\/a>\u00a0since the 1980s confiscated land, demolished buildings, and expelled Palestinian residents from the Khan al-Ahmar area.<\/p>\n

In 2016 Israeli authorities\u00a0demolished 12 buildings<\/a>\u00a0in the community that were built without permits, leaving 60 people homeless, and in March 2017\u00a0issued demolition orders<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0every structure<\/a>\u00a0in Khan al-Ahmar Ab al-Hilu. The military is planning to\u00a0forcibly relocate the residents<\/a>\u00a0to a site near a municipal garbage dump, which Israel calls \u201cJabal West,\u201d Israeli defense minister Avigdor Lieberman\u00a0told journalists<\/a>\u00a0in August 2017. Residents\u00a0are resisting<\/a>\u00a0because they were not consulted, the new site is on land\u00a0taken from other Palestinians<\/a>, and the plan would not be economically or socially viable due to their\u00a0pastoral way of life<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Separately, associations from three Israeli settlements have\u00a0repeatedly petitioned<\/a>Israel\u2019s High Court of Justice to order the demolition of the Khan al-Ahmar Ab al-Hilu primary school, which a foreign nongovernmental group helped construct in 2009 using 2,200 tires and mud mixed with falafel oil. The school serves 160 children, including children from other Bedouin communities in the area. Before the school was built, children had to travel long distances to school in Jericho, or walk on a hazardous path next to a busy highway, Route 1, to get to school;\u00a0two children<\/a>\u00a0from the community were fatally struck by cars.<\/p>\n

The military issued a demolition order for the school upon its completion, and\u00a0several times<\/a>\u00a0since, but has not carried them out. Nearby settlements have\u00a0petitioned for the military to enforce the orders<\/a>. Israel\u2019s High Court will hear the settlers\u2019 petition, which Israel\u2019s state attorney supports, at the same time as it hears a petition by Khan al-Ahmar Ab al-Hilu\u2019s residents against the military\u2019s plans to demolish the village, and is expected to rule on both on April 25.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0number of settlers<\/a>\u00a0from Kfar Adumim have recently lobbied\u00a0to support<\/a>\u00a0the Bedouin community. One of the judges who has held hearings on the case,\u00a0Noam Sohlberg<\/a>, lives in a different settlement.<\/p>\n

Al-Muntar<\/strong><\/p>\n

Israeli forces confiscated prefabricated classrooms and other infrastructure at the elementary school in the Bedouin refugee community of\u00a0al-Muntar<\/a>, in Area C east of Jerusalem, in August 2017. The community has about 100 school-age children. The school was intended to serve 70 children and currently has 33, ages 5 to 11. The others walk more than\u00a0two kilometers each way<\/a>\u00a0over steep and rough desert terrain, to the nearest elementary school \u2013 in\u00a0Wadi Abu Hindi<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 which also has a pending demolition order.\u00a0Haaretz<\/em>\u00a0newspaper\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that although residents have lived in al-Muntar since before the state of Israel was established, the Israeli military never recognized it or zoned it for residential construction.<\/p>\n

The lawyer representing the residents, Yotam Ben Hillel, told Human Rights Watch that in late 2016, the military issued stop-work orders against the school and a preschool next to it that had opened in 2013 on the grounds that they lacked building permits. The military subsequently rejected the community\u2019s application for a building permit and ordered the school\u2019s demolition. The community appealed to the High Court of Justice, saying the demolition would unduly harm the children\u2019s right to an education.<\/p>\n

The High Court ordered a halt to construction work on the school and then\u00a0dismissed the residents\u2019 petition<\/a>\u00a0in December 2017, stating that the school had been built without authorization, construction had continued despite the stop-work order, and that the court\u2019s temporary injunction against demolition would expire on February 1.<\/p>\n

On January 25, the community submitted a detailed construction plan to the military, hoping it would finally lead to obtaining permits. The community also asked the court to extend the injunction against demolishing the school until the military replied. On March 28, the state attorney\u2019s office asked the court to reject the community\u2019s building plan for the school and lift the injunction on the demolition. The state attorney also asked the court to order the community to pay the government\u2019s court expenses. The court did not lift the temporary injunction and scheduled a hearing for July 1.<\/p>\n

Israeli authorities have issued demolition orders for\u00a0every structure<\/a>\u00a0in the community. Israel\u2019s state attorney has said in court that apart from the school, the demolition of other buildings in al-Muntar is not currently a \u201cpriority\u201d and that residents could appeal future demolitions. However, the demolition orders remain valid, and no new structures may be built.<\/p>\n

Timeline of Recent School Demolitions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Israeli forces have demolished or confiscated Palestinian classrooms, playgrounds, or school-related water and electricity infrastructure at least 16 times since 2010:<\/p>\n

2018<\/p>\n