The Prime Minister of Israel, Binyamin Netanyahu, has issued an order instructing the security forces to accelerate the demolition of the homes of restive Palestinians.
At least seven families have already received a demolition order by the army, according to a Non-Governmental Unit that provides legal aid.
The spokesman for Prime Minister Netanyahu said that the demolition of the homes of restive Palestinians are being done in a way that will restrain attackers who "have no qualms whatsoever about killing themselves in order to kill others."
According to the Economist, the demolition of private homes was revived this moth due to the increase in attacks to Israelis. So far, ten Israelis have been murdered and more than 70 wounded in some 45 stabbings and shootings, half of them in and around Jerusalem, while dozens of Palestinian protesters also died during their confrontations with the Israeli Army.
Economist reported that the demolition practice was based on emergency regulations imposed by the British Mandate in 1945, which authorized commanders to destroy the homes of Palestine's restive inhabitants. 1,300 houses were either sealed or demolished by Israel in the two decades after it occupied the West Bank in 1967, and hundreds more during the first and second intifadas, or Palestinian uprisings.
While the western government condemns such practice, human-rights groups call it collective punishment. An occupying power from demolishing private homes, except in some instances where "rendered absolutely necessary by military operations," were issued by The Fourth Geneva Convention. The practice continued to exist until 2005 and was only halted when the Israeli Army conducted their own study about the effects of the demolitions. There were only three homes that were blown up or sealed in the nine years after the army issued its report.
According to the Non-Governmental Unit, HaMoked, the practice of destroying homes of insurgents will only serve as a catalyst for more uprisings and will not bring any deterrence to the present violence.
