Yesterday, November 26, 2014, HaMoked filed
two urgent petitions to the High Court of Justice against the intended punitive demolitions of the family homes of the suspected shooter of right wing activist Yehuda Glick and the assailant in the recent lethal attack at the Shim'on Ha-Tsadik station of the Jerusalem Light Rail.
The apartment in which lived the suspected shooter – located on the ground floor of a two-storey house in Abu Tor neighborhood – will be partially demolished and partially sealed; the apartment in which lived the perpetrator of the Light-Train station attack – located on the upper floor of a three-storey building in Shu'fat refugee camp – is slated for complete demolition.
Two additional petitions against the intended demolition of the family homes of the two from Jabel Mukaber who committed the attack in the Har-Nof synagogue, were filed today, November 27, 2014. The apartment in which lived one of the assailants is slated for complete demolition; in the other apartment only that part in which the assailant lived is slated for demolition.
In the petitions, HaMoked has asked for an interim injunction to prevent any damage to the houses pending the end of proceedings. HaMoked clarified that, at the very least, the sealing and demolitions should not go ahead without the state first presenting a professional opinion on their anticipated impact on the rest of the building and adjacent buildings
HaMoked reiterates it principled position on punitive house demolitions – or sealing – which are nothing but unacceptable and prohibited acts of collective punishment, in violation of international law and the fundamental principle of Israeli jurisprudence, whereby a person should not be punished for the actions of others. This inhuman policy mainly harms the inhabitants of the targeted buildings, rather than the suspects or perpetrators of the cited actions, who, in the vast majority of cases, have been either imprisoned or killed.
Following the petitions, the court issued an interim injunction, directing to refrain from the demolition of the homes, and ordered the State to file its response to the petitions not later than within 24 hours before the date which would be scheduled for the hearing.
