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Thousands of Palestinian houses have been
demolished since the beginning of the Israeli occupation in 1967. House
demolition is the policy tool used to establish and expand the illegal
Israeli settlements, as well as building the Annexation & Expansion
Wall. Furthermore, house demolition is also a policy employed during
military operations and as a penalizing measure against individuals whom
were just detained for their resistant activities. Thus, in consequence,
Palestinian families suffer from being homeless. The demolishing policy
also carried out on basis of being built without Israeli permit, which
is generally impossible to obtain.
Since the
Annapolis Conference held in November 2007, Israeli occupation forces
have demolished dozens of homes in East Jerusalem for the lack of
building permits, meanwhile, plans for thousands of additional
settlement housing units for exclusive Jewish use have been approved
during the same period. In conclusion, Palestinians are gradually being
expelled from Jerusalem under the eyes of the international community.
These measures
taken by the Israeli occupying forces constitute a sustained, systematic
and flagrant breach of Israel’s obligations under international human
rights and humanitarian law, including the International Covenant on
Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Those Israeli
occupation policies particularly the ongoing policy of house demolition
in East Jerusalem, that prevent Palestinian from having their right to
adequate housing lead to punishment under Article 16 of the convention
Against Torture, as well as seek to hold those responsible accountable
for their actions.
The main goal of
this conference is to bring together official and civilian national and
international NGOs and individuals interested in the rights of land
and/or adequate housing: to exchange knowledge; understand the relevance
of human right to adequate housing; and to work together toward a
concerted campaign addressing the Israeli occupation policies that
prevents Palestinian from having their right to adequate housing.
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