The US Embassy in Israel has denounced the bombing of the Palestinian prisoner, Palestinian-American Montaser Shalabi’s house in Turmus Ayya town, north of Ramallah on Thursday.
The US released a statement in the wake of the Israeli forces destroying the house with explosives. After which, Shalabi’s wife and children were left homeless.
The statement said that all sides should “refrain from unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions and undercut efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution, this certainly includes the punitive demolition of Palestinian homes.”
It said that “the punitive demolition of Palestinian homes” was one such step that exacerbated tensions.
Meanwhile, Palestine’s official Wafa news agency called the US criticism “unprecedented”.
The US Embassy’s statement also said, “As we stated numerous times, the home of an entire family should not be demolished for the actions of one individual.”
Shalabi is a Palestinian-American, who was arrested in May after he fatally shot an Israeli civilian at a Nablus-area checkpoint.
The act of house demolition is not new. Israel has enacted this policy of punitive home demolitions against the families of those accused of acts of terror, even when the accused has been killed since its occupation officially began in 1967.
Justice David Mintz, one of the three judges that oversaw the Shalabi family petition (that was rejected by the Israeli Court) wrote “the need for deterrence remains even when concerning a residence that includes minors”.
The justices also rejected the family’s claim that Shalabi suffered from mental health issues and ruled that he carried out the attack out of a nationalist motive.
The act of the punitive home demolitions in the year 2021 alone, has left at least 28 people, including 11 children homeless, according to Israeli rights group B’Tselem.
Israel has used this practice most frequently during the Second Intifada, where 650 Palestinian homes were destroyed by Israeli forces. 4,000 Palestinians were displaced.
“This is not a complicated, theoretical legal principle but a matter of basic morality: Punishing innocents for the sins of others is unconscionable,” a B’Tselem report on the practice reads.
Although, the Israeli authorities have attempted to justify punitive home demolitions with claims the practice deters other Palestinians from planning or carrying out attacks out of concern for their families homes.
But B’Tselem notes: “The state has never presented any figures to prove that the demolitions do, in fact, deter Palestinians from carrying out attacks, nor has it ever been pressed to do so.”
“Even if this deterrent effect were achieved, it would not render the policy moral or legal,” B’Tselem said.
“By harming innocents to achieve a goal that has nothing to do with them, the authorities treat these persons as a means rather than as independent human beings with rights. Such a policy is inherently immoral and unlawful.”
Later, Israel’s new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s Office issued a statement responding to the US condemnation, saying: “The prime minister appreciates and respects the American administration. At the same time, he acts solely in accordance with the State of Israel’s security considerations and protecting the lives of Israeli citizens.”
Meanwhile, the US State Department spokesman, Ned Price, told reporters in Washington that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had personally intervened. He said that Blinken had spoken to a “senior Israeli counterpart” prior to the demolition of Shalabi’s house.
The US said that it has prioritized pressuring Israel to halt its punitive policy of demolishing Palestinian homes.
“The secretary and other senior officials here at the State Department in recent days have raised these concerns directly with senior Israeli officials and we will continue to do so as long as this practice continues,” Price said.