Amnesty International (AI) Tuesday 18 May characterized some of the demolitions of Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip as war crimes in terms of the Geneva Conventions, saying they were examples of collective punishment.
"Israel's unjustified destruction of thousands of Palestinian and Arab Israeli homes as well as vast areas of agricultural land has reached an unprecedented level and must stop immediately," the London-based human rights organization said.
It said over the last three and a half years, Israeli forces had demolished more than 3,000 homes. It called Israel's justification of them "overly broad and based on discriminatory policies and practices". "In the occupied territories, demolitions are often carried out as collective punishments for Palestinian attacks or to facilitate the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements."
Both practices contravene international law and some of these acts are war crimes," AI said. It called on Israel to halt all unlawful destruction of homes and land seizures whether for building Israeli settlements or for extending the wall through the occupied territories. |
