Israeli Police: the Daily Practice of Collective Punishment Against Palestinians

On June 23, 2014, the Israeli government decided to relaunch its strategy of punitive demolition of Palestinian homes, despite having considered this method as counter-productive and having therefore abandoned it in February 2005. On July 1, Israeli soldiers thus dynamited the house of Awawde Ziad’s family, a Palestinian from Idhna (near Hebron), who was then detained and is awaiting trial for killing an Israeli policeman. The Israeli organization HaMoked has since filed several appeals against this punitive destruction with the Israeli Supreme Court, emphasizing the violation of international law that such an act constituted. But these appeals have all been rejected, the court alleging that the deterrent effect of such a measure was legitimate. On August 11, the Israeli army destroyed two more Palestinian homes in Hebron and then, in November, five in Jerusalem, each time for punitive reasons against families and/or the entourage of Palestinians pursued for specific attacks against Israelis.st Israelis.