In identical messages sent by PNC Speaker, Mr. Saleem Al-Za’anoon to the parliaments and unions, PNC made clear that the demolitions that the occupation authorities pursue as a policy are considered an essential means of creating an environment designed to coerce Palestinians to leave their homes and areas of residence, and allocate these areas to Jewish settlers.
In its messages, PNC called on parliaments to condemn these operations, and to demand an end to the policy of demolishing Palestinian homes, and to provide a clear and transparent approach for Palestinians to be able to build in Area (C) of the West Bank.
The speaker also appealed to those parliaments to intervene with their governments to work to provide urgent shelter for the people of Humsat Al-Buqi’a, to support the Palestinians to help them remain in their lands, and to finance legal support that helps the Palestinians in the litigation procedures against decisions of expulsion and demolition in the Israeli judicial system.
He also called on parliaments to assume their responsibilities, and to demand the international community and the High Contracting Parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 to shoulder their legal responsibilities towards obliging Israel to respect the rules of international humanitarian law and to provide protection for the Palestinian Arab people.
The village of Humsat Al-Buqi’a/Al-Fawqa is inhabited by 73 citizens, including 41 children, PNC added in its messages, that they are now homeless. They are living in harsh and painful suffering, and need help to endure the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and the difficulties of winter season.
The council indicated that the demolition policy in that village affected 76 buildings, which is more than any other demolition process that occurred in the past decade, and this village is considered one of 38 other villages threatened with destruction, deportation and ethnic cleansing.
This process comes within the framework of an ethnic cleansing plan that is being implemented and completed against Palestinian citizens, PNC continued, the village of Humsat Al-Buqi’a is just an example, as 689 buildings have been demolished in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem so far during the year 2020, which is witnessing the largest demolition during any year since 2016, causing the displacement of
869 Palestinians.
PNC stressed that the village of Humsat Al-Buqi’a is part of the occupied Palestinian territories, which must be subject to the Hague Convention of 1907, the Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilians in Time of War of 1949, the First Additional Protocol of 1977, and international resolutions issued by international institutions. As an occupied area is subject to the rules of international humanitarian law, protection must be provided to the victims of wars, specifically the protection of lives, interests and property of the civilian population in the occupied territories.
In its messages, PNC commended the request of the European Union Representative in the Palestinian Territories, regarding the humanitarian facilities funded by European Union were demolished, dismantled or confiscated by Israel, to be "returned or compensated", knowing that there are 52 Palestinian schools funded by the European Union that are threatened with demolition.
9 November, 2020