Ref: 49/2019
Date: 22 July 2019
Press Release,
The International Commission ( ICSPR) condemns the committing of ethnic cleansing crimes by the Israeli occupation forces in the town of Sur Bahir in Jerusalem.
The International Commission to Support Palestinians’ Rights (ICSPR) follows up with deep concern the demolition of dozens of buildings, displacing hundreds of civilians in the town of Sur Bahir, in the south of occupied East Jerusalem.
According to preliminary information available to ICSPR, on Monday, 22 July 2019, about 1500 soldiers of the Israeli occupation forces and dozens of military vehicles and bulldozers, stormed Sur Bahir town in the south of occupied East Jerusalem, they centered in (Wadi al-Homs), closed the entrances to the neighborhood and cut off the electricity, then they proceeded to forcibly evict residents of the inhabited buildings after violently beaten them without allowing them to remove any of their belongings. At approximately 06:00, the Israeli occupation forces began demolishing the targeted buildings. The Israeli occupation forces demolished at least 8 buildings and houses (containing more than 100 apartments) by planting explosives inside them, in addition to planting explosives in other buildings in preparation for another phase of demolition.
This action was carried in an implementation of the decision of the Israeli High Court of Justice on 13 June 2019, which approved the demolition of 16 residential buildings containing more than 100 houses in Wadi al-Homs neighbourhood.
ICSPR confirms that the demolition of houses and the displacement of the inhabitants of Wadi Homs neighborhood of the town of Sur Bahir south of the occupied East Jerusalem constitutes a crime of ethnic cleansing in accordance with article 7 of the Statute of the International Criminal Court , and a war crime according to Article 8 of the same Statute, and a violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention 1949. Therefore ICSPR:
1- Condemns the Israeli occupation forces committing the crime of ethnic cleansing against the inhabitants of Wadi Homs in the town of Sur Bahir, south of occupied East Jerusalem
2- Calls upon the international community and its various organizations to exert all forms of pressure on the Israeli authorities to respect the basic rules of international law and to neutralize the civilian population and their homes from the continuous assaults carried out by its security and judicial authorities.
3- Calls on the international community to force the Israeli occupation state to stop its policies and crimes against Jerusalem and its inhabitants.
ICSPR
