Global Courant
Ramallah – At dawn on Thursday, Israeli forces stormed the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank and blew up the family home of a Palestinian prisoner.
The large contingent of Israeli soldiers poured into Ramallah al-Tahta (lower Ramallah) in the old city and cordoned off the childhood home of 27-year-old Islam Faroukh.
According to residents, the Israelis spent hours planting explosives that later pulverized the Faroukh family’s apartment.
Video footage from the operation showed soldiers painstakingly planting explosives in the walls of the house before the massive blast that turned the spacious apartment into rubble and rubble, while also blowing out the windows of nearby houses.
“My son is still under arrest and has not yet been brought to justice,” Islam’s mother, Abeer Faroukh, told Al Jazeera.
“How did the house blow up in such a way that it affected the whole neighborhood before my son got a fair trial?” she asked.
Now that her son is innocent until proven guilty in court, Abeer Faroukh says the “real crime” was the destruction of the family’s home and damage to the neighbourhood.
Demolition of the homes of Palestinians “suspected of carrying out attacks” on Israelis is a long-held practice of Israel. Thousands of Palestinian people have lost their homes to destruction in what human rights groups say is Israel’s policy of “collective punishment” that could amount to war crimes.
“International humanitarian law, including the Hague Regulations of 1907 and the Fourth Geneva Convention, prohibit collective punishment in all circumstances, including the willful harm of the family members of those accused of committing crimes.” That’s what Human Rights Watch said in February.
Courts around the world have treated collective punishment as a war crime.
Islam Faroukh was arrested in December and charged with carrying out bombings at bus stops in Jerusalem that killed two people, including an Israeli-Canadian teenager, and injured 14 others. He has denied the allegations.
“We are sure that he is innocent,” said Harbi Faroukh, the father of Islam, adding that his son could face life imprisonment for “false charges”.
The family tried to appeal the demolition order to Israel’s Supreme Court, seeking to have their homes sealed rather than destroyed, but to no avail.
“The house is not ours. It belongs to the grandfather of Islam and we have tried to clarify this matter with the Israeli authorities,” the father said.
The home of the Faroukh family after Israeli forces blew it up in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on June 8, 2023 (Mohammed Torokman/Reuters)
“What is our fault that our house is being demolished in this way?” he asked.
“The allegations against our son have not yet been proven. On what basis are we displaced and punished in this way?”
Harbi Faroukh and his wife and four daughters are now homeless, he told Al Jazeera, and the family had to move in with his brother.
“The Israeli occupation insists on pursuing a policy of collective punishment against us,” Harbi Faroukh added.
“It’s a losing policy that doesn’t enrich or make you fat with hunger.”
‘Collective punishment is terror policy’
All residents of the four-story building where the Faroukh family had their apartment were ordered to leave when the Israeli soldiers arrived at about 10 p.m. (8 p.m. GMT) to set their explosives.
Residents were only able to return to check their homes after the soldiers retreated at about 7am (05:00 GMT) on Thursday and detonated the explosion that turned Faroukh’s house into little more than holes in brick and concrete walls.
Witnesses told Al Jazeera that the force of the blast damaged many homes in the area.
Ibrahim Musa sweeps up shattered glass from the windows of his home blown away by the force of an Israeli demolition operation that destroyed the neighboring home of the Faroukh family on June 8, 2023 (Aziza Nofal/Al Jazeera)
Ibrahim Musa, a father of four who lives next door to the Faroukh family’s apartment building, told Al Jazeera how Israeli soldiers broke into his home with a dog, terrifying his children and telling him to evacuate.
“Israel says the prisoner is a terrorist, but what about what (this) does to us?” Musa said, adding that demolishing Palestinian homes in such a way was itself “terrorism.”
Musa’s house was badly damaged by the blast. Some of his walls collapsed and the windows in his house shattered.
“The policy of collective punishment is a policy of terror against all Palestinian people and an attempt to intimidate every Palestinian citizen,” he added.
During the demolition operation, intense clashes broke out between Palestinian residents and Israeli troops in different parts of the city of Ramallah. Young men threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the Israeli patrols who responded with bullets, tear gas and stun grenades.
Six Palestinians were injured in the clashes and were taken to the Palestinian Medical Complex. One was treated for a gunshot wound to the flank and two others were treated for gunshot wounds to the thigh and foot. Another was hit by a rubber-coated metal bullet in the hand, and two were treated for inhaling toxic tear gas, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
A Palestinian man clashes with Israeli forces during an attack on Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on June 8, 2023 (Mohammed Torokman/Reuters)
Israeli soldiers also targeted journalists who were present and covered the Ramallah raid. Palestinian photojournalist Moamen Samreen was shot in the head by a rubber-tipped bullet and taken to hospital, and Rabih al-Munir, also a photojournalist, was hit in the abdomen by a rubber-coated metal bullet.
Moamen’s uncle, Mohammad Samreen, also works as a photojournalist for several news agencies and witnessed the moment when his cousin was shot by Israeli forces.
“We were about 20 journalists… stationed alone in a safe place. While we were there, Israeli forces fired gas bombs and bullets at us more than once,” said Samreen.
“We hid on the ground, Moamen, my cousin, got up and moved from his place to another. Suddenly he was immediately shot by the Israeli soldiers,” he said.
Hit by a rubber-coated bullet behind the ear, his nephew suffered a fractured skull and cerebral hemorrhage.
“The Israeli occupation deliberately targets journalists directly. It was clear to everyone that we were journalists and that Moamen was wearing his press vest, but he was still the target,” said his uncle.
In recent months, Israeli forces have repeatedly targeted Palestinian journalists working in the field, using tear gas or live bullets, he added.
Visiting what remained of the Faroukh family home after the Israeli demolition operation, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said Israeli forces were engaged in a “full-scale re-invasion of the West Bank through daily raids on Palestinian towns and cities. villages”.
Shtayyeh described a policy of “collective displacement” against Palestinians through such collective punishments and house-demolitions, adding that the Israeli forces were protected by “the immobility and double standards of the international community”.
(TagsToTranslate)News
