House Demolitions in Tulkarem and Nour Shams Camps by Ali Abu Habla
Ali Abu Habla, translated by Ibrahim Ebeid.
House Demolitions in Tulkarem and Nour Shams Camps:
War Crimes and Systematic Change of Geography and Demography as a Target of the Right of Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
Prepared by Ali Abu Habla, translated by Ibrahim Ebeid.
In a dangerous escalation that amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Israeli occupying forces issued an aggressive military decision to demolish 25 residential buildings in Nour Shams refugee camp, east of Tulkarem, as part of a systematic policy targeting Palestinian camps and their residents, and constitutes an extension of the occupation’s approach based on collective punishment, widespread destruction of property, and forced displacement of the civilian population.
The repeated incursions into the Tulkarem and Nour Shams camps, the military blockade, the destruction of infrastructure and the imposition of a coercive security reality cannot be justified under any security pretext and is a flagrant violation of the rules of international humanitarian law, which oblige the occupying power to protect the civilian population and its property, not to target or punish them collectively.
Demolition as a war crime under the Geneva Conventions
Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 prohibits the destruction of private property in the occupied territories, except for imperative military necessity. Article 33 of the same convention also prohibits collective punishment in all circumstances. Accordingly, the demolition of dozens of residential buildings in Nour Shams camp, and the displacement of entire families, is carried out outside any absolute military necessity, and is carried out as a policy of deterrence and collective revenge, making it an unlawful destruction of property that amounts to a full-fledged war crime.
This is reinforced by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which was considered in article . The widespread destruction of property without military justification and the forced displacement of the population constitute war crimes, while such acts are classified as crimes against humanity if committed on a large scale or systematically.
Forced Displacement and Human Rights Violations
Large-scale demolitions result in the direct and indirect forced displacement of the civilian population, in clear violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the forcible transfer or transfer of populations from the occupied territories. These practices also constitute a clear violation of the right to housing, enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (article 25) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
In Tulkarm camp, violations are no less severe, with night raids, indiscriminate shooting, destruction of roads, water, and electricity networks, and restrictions on the movement of citizens, turning the lives of civilians, especially children, women, and older people, into a permanent state of fear and insecurity.
Map to change geography and demography, and target the camp environment
The demolition decisions in Tulkarem and Nour Shams camps cannot be separated from the broader Israeli plan aimed at changing Palestinian geography and re-engineering the demographic reality within the camps, in the context of a long-term policy aimed at destroying the environment of the Palestinian camps as the living legal and political witness to the refugee issue and the right of return.
Palestinian camps are not just residential settlements, but a legal and political entity directly linked to UN General Assembly Resolution 194 of 1948, which affirmed the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and to compensation. From this standpoint, the occupation is systematically dismantling the camps, changing their urban character, striking at their social fabric, and pushing their inhabitants towards forced displacement, in an attempt to empty them of their legal and political content, and to transform the refugee issue from an issue of inalienable rights to a humanitarian issue that can be dissolved.
The forcible opening of roads, the destruction of infrastructure, and the demolition of homes within the camps are part of an internationally prohibited policy of demographic engineering, which violates the principle that land cannot be acquired or changed by force, and represents a direct assault on the right of return as an individual and collective right that does not lapse by statute of limitations.
A legal and moral appeal to the international community
In the face of these ongoing crimes, we make an urgent appeal to the United Nations, the Security Council, the International Criminal Court, and international human rights and humanitarian organizations to take immediate action to:
Immediately halt demolition orders in Tulkarem and Nour Shams camps.
Provide urgent international protection for Palestinian civilians.
Holding Israeli occupation leaders accountable for war crimes committed.
Move from a policy of verbal condemnation to binding legal proceedings that end impunity.
Continued international silence, or merely expressing “concern”, is nothing but an indirect form of collusion and undermines the credibility of the entire international justice system.
Conclusion
What is happening in the Tulkarem and Nour Shams camps is not a passing event, but a new episode in a long series of crimes targeting the Palestinian existence and its historical rights. These camps will remain a living witness to the crimes of the occupation, as well as a symbol of steadfastness, and a clear message that rights are not erased by bulldozers, are not overthrown by force, and are not abolished by invalid military decisions.
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