Dr. Erekat on Israel's Imminent Plan to Demolish Palestinian Properties in Sur Bahir

We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, Israel’s imminent plan to demolish 10 buildings in the occupied East Jerusalem town of Sur Bahir, which will result in the displacement of three Palestinian families, totaling 17 people, including 9 children. If the planned demolitions take place, Israel’s actions will constitute a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention as well as war crimes pursuant to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. 

Israel’s illegal policies and practices, ranging from home demolitions and forced displacement to the destruction of Palestinian livelihoods, in East Jerusalem and the rest of occupied Palestine, serve one purpose: the preservation and expansion of the Israeli colonial-settlement enterprise at the expense of Palestinian land and people. 

The Palestinians have no recourse, as the Israeli judicial system has repeatedly shown its complicity in Israel’s illegal colonial-settlement enterprise. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the international community to immediately intervene to halt the demolitions in Sur Bahir and hold Israel to account for its repeated violations of international law.