Demolished Arab house. Walaje, West Bank.

Arab-owned house demolished by the Israeli authorities, built before 1967 and classified as ‘illegal’.

The building, near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, was close to the vast and expanding Jewish settlements of Har Homa and Gilo, and near to where a new length of Israeli ‘security wall’ is being constructed.

House demolition is a controversial tactic used by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip against Palestinians.

Official IDF explanations for house demolitions include use as a ‘counter-insurgency security measure’ to impede or halt militant operations, as a ‘regulatory measure’ to enforce building codes and regulations, and as a ‘deterrent against terrorism’ in the occupied territories.

Human rights organizations and the United Nations criticize the ongoing demolitions of Palestinian homes as violating international law, and contend that Israeli governments actually use demolitions to collectively punish Palestinians and to seize property for the expansion of Israeli settlements.