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<h1 class="title" id="page-title">Israeli army confiscates $3.5
million worth of Palestinian property</h1>
<div class="submitted">
<span property="dc:date dc:created"
content="2014-07-08T09:58:33+00:00" datatype="xsd:dateTime"
rel="sioc:has_creator">Submitted by <span class="username"
xml:lang="" about="/users/charlotte-silver"
typeof="sioc:UserAccount" property="foaf:name" datatype="">Charlotte
Silver</span> on Tue, 07/08/2014 - 09:58<br>
<b><small><small><small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israeli-army-confiscates-35-million-worth-palestinian-property">http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israeli-army-confiscates-35-million-worth-palestinian-property</a></small></small></small></b><br>
</span> </div>
<div class="field-body">
<p>The Israeli army <a
href="http://euromid.org/uploads/reports/English_Confiscation_of_Palestinians_WestBank.pdf">confiscated</a>
nearly $3.5 million worth of property and cash from Palestinians
during its recent three-weeks long military incursion into the
West Bank, under the auspices of searching for three Israeli
teens who went missing on 12 June and whose bodies were found 30
June. </p>
<p>Since the beginning of the military assault, 830 Palestinians
have been arrested and seven killed in the occupied West Bank. <a
href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/07/hamas-threatens-revenge-after-gaza-air-raids-20147794524890806.html">Nine
have been killed</a> in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. Two more
died from heart attacks suffered during an army raid or while
being held at a checkpoint, and many dozens more have been
injured. Israel is still bombarding Gaza with heavy airstrikes,
and injuries and casualties are mounting.</p>
<p>On 7 July, the Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights, published a
report compiling all incidents of confiscated private property
and money. In addition to taking the equivalent of $370,000 in
cash, the Israeli army seized ninety-three computers, as well as
telephones, cars and buses totalling a value of $2.9 million.
Euro-Mid Observer is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with
offices throughout the Middle East. </p>
<h2>“Organized robbery”</h2>
<p>
</p>
<p>Euro-Mid Observer’s investigation found that the confiscations
occurred without a judicial warrant and without proper
notification to the families. “In other words,” the report
states, “they were
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>On 2 July, Israel announced that the campaign, dubbed Operation
My Brother’s Keeper, was “completed,” after the bodies of the
three Israeli teens were found in Dura, near Hebron.</p>
<p>The report’s findings suggest that pillage is yet another war
crime that Israel appears to have committed during the campaign.</p>
<p>International law <a
href="http://www.icrc.org/ihl/com/380-600038">prohibits</a>
the destruction or theft of property in a military conflict.
Euro-Mid Observer reports that the seizure of money and private
property is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which
prohibits the pillage of or reprisal against civilians,
particularly people under military occupation. Euro-Mid Observer
also asserts that the widespread confiscation of property
violates the Geneva Convention’s prohibition against collective
punishment. </p>
<p>The report states that the “Israeli government justifies the
confiscation of money and equipment by claiming that they were
used for funding or supporting terrorism.” The government has
offered no evidence to support this claim. </p>
<div id="file-27721" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg
media-element file-full" style="width:618px;">
<div class="content">
<img typeof="foaf:Image"
src="cid:part4.00020108.09010901@freedomarchives.org" alt=""
title="" height="692" width="618">
<div class="legend">
Confication of Palestinian property by Israeli forces in
West Bank between 14 June and 3 July (Euro-Mid Observer for
Human Rights). </div>
</div>
</div>
<h2>“Threatened with guns”</h2>
<p>
</p>
<p>Twenty-four-year-old Muntaser Mohammed Musa, from a village
near Hebron, told Euro-Mid Observer that after he realized money
had been taken from his home during a raid, he approached the
officer in charge: “He started laughing with the other soldiers,
then they threatened me with their guns and ordered me to go
back home,” Musa said. </p>
<p>The largest charity in Hebron, the Islamic Benevolent Society
for Orphans, had computers, documents, and printers confiscated.
Israeli soldiers also raided the society’s dairy factory and
confiscated equipment worth up to $812,000.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Soldiers also raided the Developed Company for Agricultural
Activities, where they “broke egg boxes, damaged a number of
machines, and confiscated computers and
</p>
<p>The destruction of private property and public infrastructure
is reminiscent of Israel’s 2008-2009 assault on the Gaza Strip,
during which<a
href="http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/A-HRC-12-48_ADVANCE1.pdf">
the army targeted</a> civilian infrastructure, including the
blockaded enclave’s largest chicken farm, relief centers,
hospitals and factories.</p>
<p>In <a
href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.568473">late
2013</a>, the Israeli military’s central command signed a
military order making it impossible for Palestinians to
challenge the confiscation of their property in a military
court, instead requiring them to file litigation with the
Israeli high court — a significantly more burdensome process as
it requires they attain a lawyer with access to Israel, and pay
a fee to file with the high court. </p>
<p>Israeli pillage of West Bank resources <a
href="http://electronicintifada.net/content/stealing-palestines-resources-illegal-despite-israeli-court-ruling/10904">has
been justified</a> in the past by the Israeli high court under
the reasoning that it funds the Civil Administration — the body
overseeing Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank — which
allegedly “promotes various kinds of projects aimed to benefit
the interests of the area.” </p>
<p>Seized property and money are given to the regional treasury
and allotted for “public use.” The regional treasury is operated
by the so-called Civil Administration. </p>
<p>Far from benefiting the residents of the West Bank, the Civil
Administration is responsible for home demolitions, manning
checkpoints, violently suppressing protests, and denying
Palestinians the right to collect water, along with various
other functions of the 47-year-old occupation. </p>
</div>
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