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<h1 id="reader-title">Israeli revenge demolitions leave 2 dead,
dozens homeless</h1>
<div id="reader-credits" class="credits">Shadi Hatem<br>
November 20, 2015<br>
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<p>Israeli occupation forces wrought death, injury and
destruction this week as they carried out revenge
demolitions of Palestinian homes and fired on
protesters.</p>
<p>More than 85 Palestinians have been killed in escalated
violence since 1 October, dozens in what human rights
organizations and international monitors have <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israels-executions-palestinian-teens-must-end-amnesty-says">condemned</a>
as summary executions.</p>
<p>Sixteen Israelis were slain in the same period.</p>
<p>More than 9,000 Palestinians and 133 Israelis were
injured, <a
href="http://www.ochaopt.org/poc10november-16november-2015.aspx">according</a>
to the United Nations monitoring group OCHA.</p>
<p>On Thursday, a Palestinian and two Israelis were killed
in a shooting attack near the Gush Etzion settlement
bloc in the occupied West Bank.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.687133">According</a>
to Israel’s <em>Haaretz</em>, a Palestinian driver
opened fire toward cars near the settlement of Alon
Shvut, killing three people.</p>
<p>The alleged assailant was arrested after he crashed his
car into another vehicle.</p>
<p>Those killed in the attack have been <a
href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4728385,00.html">identified</a>
as Shadi Arafa, a 24-year-old Palestinian from the West
Bank city of Hebron; Ezra Schwartz, an 18-year-old US
citizen; and Yaakov Don, a 49-year-old West Bank
settler.</p>
<p>Earlier, two Israelis – 51-year-old Reuven Aviram and
Aharon Yesayev, 32 – were killed in a stabbing attack at
an <a
href="https://www.rt.com/news/322708-tel-aviv-stabbing-rt/">office
building</a> in Tel Aviv.</p>
<p>The alleged assailant was taken into custody. He was
identified as Riad al-Masalma, a Palestinian from Dura
village near Hebron.</p>
<p>That occupied West Bank city has borne the brunt of
recent Israeli violence, including <a
href="http://www.ochaopt.org/poc10november-16november-2015.aspx">29
killings</a> since the start of October.</p>
<p>Last Friday, two Israeli settlers – a father and his
adult son – <a
href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.685904">were
killed</a> after an unknown assailant opened fire on
their car in southern West Bank.</p>
<h2>Killings and revenge demolitions</h2>
<p>Thursday’s killings follow a wave of Israeli violence
against Palestinians.</p>
<p>Israeli forces blew up six homes in the occupied West
Bank belonging to families of Palestinians who allegedly
committed attacks against Israelis.</p>
<p>At least 16 additional homes in the same buildings or
adjacent to those targeted were damaged or destroyed.</p>
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<p>The demolitions made 47 people, including 20 children,
homeless, from both the targeted and adjacent
structures, <a
href="http://www.ochaopt.org/poc10november-16november-2015.aspx">according</a>
to OCHA.</p>
<p>Israel carried out the revenge demolitions after its
high court rejected an <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-cruelest-punishments-reserved-palestinians/14989">appeal</a>
by human rights organizations.</p>
<p>Israel claims that the policy, used exclusively against
Palestinians and never against Jews, deters attacks, but
even its army <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israels-high-court-champions-revenge-against-palestinian-families">has
refuted this</a>.</p>
<p>OCHA affirmed that the demolitions are “a form of
collective punishment and as such are illegal under
international law.”</p>
<h2>“Vindictive”</h2>
<p>Shortly after midnight on 16 November, Israeli forces
invaded Qalandiya refugee camp, near the West Bank city
of Ramallah, to destroy the family home of Muhammad Abu
Shahin.</p>
<p>Abu Shahin is accused – though has not been convicted –
of <a
href="http://www.btselem.org/israeli_civilians/20150621_ein_bubin_shooting">killing
an Israeli</a> in the West Bank last June.</p>
<p>Israeli forces “called on loudspeakers to the residents
of nearby houses, instructing them to leave their homes
and move about 100 meters away,” the human rights group
B’Tselem <a
href="http://www.btselem.org/punitive_demolitions/20151117_security_forced_demolish_14_homes">reported</a>.
“When Abu Shahin’s apartment was blown up, the apartment
on the floor below it was also damaged, as was an
apartment in a nearby building that was home to four
people, including two minors.”</p>
<p>Abu Shahin’s wife and children lived in the targeted
house.</p>
<p>Palestinian residents confronted the Israeli forces
invading the camp.</p>
<p>Israeli soldiers shot dead Laith Assad Manasra, 21, and
Ahmad Abu al-Aish, 28, in the densely populated refugee
camp.</p>
<p>Dozens more were injured, including 17-year-old Yousif
Abu Latifa, who was critically wounded. Witnesses <a
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=768844">told
the Ma’an News Agency</a> that Israeli forces fired
tear gas at ambulances attempting to reach the wounded.</p>
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<p>On 14 November, Israeli forces used explosives to
destroy four apartments in <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/nablus">Nablus</a>
that were home to relatives of Palestinians accused, but
not convicted, of killing two West Bank settlers on 1
October, leaving 14 people homeless, according to
B’Tselem.</p>
<p>The force of the explosions destroyed six other
apartments that were not targeted, making 16 more people
homeless.</p>
<p>In the Ramallah-area village of <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/silwad">Silwad</a>,
Israeli forces blew up the home of the mother and
brother of Muaz Hamad, who Israel accuses of killing a
West Bank settler in June.</p>
<p>The explosion damaged eight nearby houses, according to
B’Tselem.</p>
<p>In addition to being illegal under international law,
the group says that Israel’s policy of <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/punitive-home-demolitions">punitive
demolitions</a> is “a draconian, vindictive measure
directed at entire families who have done nothing wrong
nor are they suspected of any wrongdoing.”</p>
<p>Another 27 Palestinians, including 12 children, were
also made homeless as Israeli forces demolished another
17 homes and other structures in across West Bank,
including East Jerusalem, under the pretext that they
lacked building permits, <a
href="http://www.ochaopt.org/poc10november-16november-2015.aspx">OCHA
reported</a>.</p>
<h2>Killing and raids</h2>
<p>On 17 November, Israeli forces killed 24-year-old
Muhammad Saleh, from Aroura village, near Ramallah.</p>
<p>Israel stated that Saleh opened fire on a military
jeep, but the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)
<a
href="http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11373:weekly-report-on-israeli-human-rights-violations-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territory-12--18-november-2015&catid=84:weekly-2009&Itemid=183">notes</a>
that there “was no eyewitness to confirm or deny the
Israeli claim.”</p>
<p>In what appears to be standard practice, Israeli forces
prevented Palestinian medics from reaching Saleh, PCHR
said.</p>
<figure class="file file-image file-image-jpeg"
id="file-32529"><source media="(min-width: 72rem)"><figcaption
class="group-caption field-group-html-element">
<p>Palestinians confront Israeli forces following the
funeral of Ahmad Abu al-Aish and Laith Manasrah,
near Beit El settlement on the outskirts of the West
Bank city of Ramallah, on 16 November.
<span class="field field-publisher"></span></p>
</figcaption></figure>
<p>In the last week, OCHA said more than 1,100
Palestinians, including 203 children, were injured amid
ongoing confrontations with Israeli forces in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip.</p>
<p>Israeli forces raided almost 80 Palestinian communities
in the West Bank and arrested more than 100
Palestinians, including 38 children, <a
href="http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11373:weekly-report-on-israeli-human-rights-violations-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territory-12--18-november-2015&catid=84:weekly-2009&Itemid=183">according</a>
to PCHR.</p>
<h2>Slap on the wrist</h2>
<p>Another event this week highlighted the stark contrast
between the brutality Israel directs towards
Palestinians and the impunity it affords its own
citizens.</p>
<p>An Israeli Border Police officer convicted for the
savage beating of Palestinian American teenager <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/palestinian-american-teen-recounts-israeli-assault-packed-room-capitol">Tariq
Abukhdeir</a> was given a slap on the wrist – six
weeks of community service.</p>
<p>The attack – in which one officer held the boy down
while another methodically kicked and pummeled him in
the head – was <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/israel-holds-us-boy-without-charge-after-police-nearly-beat-him-death">recorded
on video</a>.</p>
<p>This week two UN special rapporteurs <a
href="http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16759&LangID=E">called
on Israel</a> to end its policy of summary executions
of Palestinians.</p>
<p>The independent human rights experts appointed by the
UN Human Rights Council said that the current escalation
of violence is “occurring within the existing context of
policies and practices under the longstanding Israeli
occupation which entail violations of Palestinian human
rights.”</p>
<p>For their part, Israeli leaders continue to <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/rania-khalek/israeli-leaders-exploit-paris-attacks-justify-atrocities-against-palestinians">exploit
the attacks in Paris</a> by insisting that
Palestinians are driven by the same motivations as the
suspected Islamic State gunmen and bombers who killed
130 people last Friday.</p>
<p>Meanwhile Israel announced plans for 454 more settler
homes in occupied East Jerusalem, a move even Israel’s
staunch allies the United States and Germany <a
href="http://news.yahoo.com/germany-criticizes-israels-east-jerusalem-settlement-plans-135638794.html">criticized</a>.</p>
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