Houses still await demolition
Palestine-Israel, Judicial, 12/9/1997

The Israeli army said it would wait until time is appropriate to demolish five houses in the village of Assira Ash Shamaliya near Nablus after a High Court ruling Tuesday gave the go ahead to the army to destroy or seal off the houses.

The five houses belong to families of five Palestinian suicide bombers whom Israel said were involved in two attacks July 30 in Mahaneh Yehuda market and on September 4 in Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall in West Jerusalem. They were identified as Mou'awiya Mahmoud Ahmad Jara'a, born in 1974, Bashar Mahmoud Asa'ad Sawalha, born in 1973, Tewfiq Ali Mahmoud Yassin, born in 1972, Mohammed Ali Jarara' and Yousef Ahmad Shouli, born in 1974.

The High Court rejected a petition presented by lawyers of the five families who said the demolition was part of a collective punishment that cannot be justified. The judges said in their decision that they had to bear in mind the need for the element of deterrence to remain effective against Palestinian suicide bombers and on the other hand had to consider humane aspects of such demolitions on the families themselves.

In the beginning the families argued that their sons were not involved in any suicide attacks and insisted they were killed in a shootout with Israeli soldiers. The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, also issued a statement at the time saying four of the five were killed by Israeli soldiers who took their bodies away. "When Israel found no way to solve the mystery of the two suicide bombings, it decided to claim that the four were the ones who blew themselves up in Jerusalem," a Hamas declaration said.

Israel rejected Hamas version and placed the village of Assira Ash Shamaliya under total siege for 19 consecutive days with neither food nor medical supplies being allowed through. The siege was only lifted when Israel claimed its General Security Services had managed to identify the fifth suicide bomber as Yousef Ahmad Shouli, whose body until then could not be identified. Israel claimed that only a DNA test had authenticated the identity of Shouli.

Previous Stories:
  Palestinian group tries to put an end to home demolitions   (10/27/1997)
  Houses await demolition as Israel visits the sins of the sons on the parents   (10/14/1997)
  Collective punishment against families of suspected bombers and villages   (9/27/1997)

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