A/HRC/44/60 found in Article 119 of the 1945 Defense (Emergency) Regulations, 64 which permits the confiscation and destruction of houses where a security offence had taken place or where a person who committed a security offence resides. The Military Commander’s orders are subject to judicial review by the Israeli Supreme Court, but on a rather lenient standard which only infrequently forestalls the demolition order. 41. In addition to the absolute prohibition against collective punishment in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 53 forbids: Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons…except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations. According to the ICRC, this protection is to be given a “very wide” meaning.65 42. In 1979, the Israeli Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, issued its first judicial review ruling of the IDF Military Commander’s authority to punitively demolish or seal a house.66 In this and subsequent rulings in the 1980s, the Court adopted three principles that would shape much of its subsequent case law on this issue. First, it dismissed the arguments that Article 119 violated the Fourth Geneva Convention, on the basis that “local law” preceded, and therefore trumped, the laws of occupation. Second, it ruled that punitive home demolition did not constitute collective punishment. And third, it uncritically endorsed the military’s reasoning that the demolitions were a “punitive measure” which created an effective “deterrence against the commission of similar acts.”67 43. In the ensuing four decades, the High Court has issued more than 100 rulings that have given its full backing to the practice. According to Michael Sfard, an Israeli human rights lawyer, the Court’s subsequent caselaw “greatly expanded the power to demolish.” Throughout this time, it has never squarely addressed, on the merits, the argument that Article 119 violates the Fourth Geneva Convention’s unconditional prohibition of collective punishment.68 44. In 2005, the IDF ended the use of punitive home demolitions, following a commissioned internal report which found that the deterrence policy was ineffectual. According to Ha’aretz, the Shani report concluded that: no effective deterrence was proven, except in a few cases, and that the damage to Israel caused by the demolitions was greater than the benefits because the deterrence, limited if at all, paled in comparison to the hatred and hostility toward Israel that the demolitions provoked among the Palestinians.69 45. However, in 2008, following further attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians, the IDF resumed its policy of punitive home demolitions. Shortly afterwards, the Israeli High Court ruled that, with a change of circumstances, this resumption was justified, because: “there is a need to strengthen the deterrence measures, including demolitions of terrorists’ houses and intensifying the sanctions against the terrorists’ families.”70 46. In April 2014, an Israeli police commander was killed in a premeditated shooting while driving the family car in the West Bank.71 His wife was wounded. Four children were in the car, but were not apparently harmed in the attack. In May, Israeli security forces arrested Ziad ‘Awwad and his son, and alleged that they had committed the attack. In June, the Military Commander of the West Bank notified the ‘Awwad family that he intended to 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 1442 Palestine Gazette, Supp. No. 2, at 1055, 1089 (27 September 1945), as amended. https://ihldatabases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Comment.xsp?action=open Document&documentId=A13817C DA3424C3CC12563CD0042C6E6. HCJ 434/79 Sahweil v. Commander of the Area (1979) 34(1) PD 464. HaMoked, The Punitive Demolition of Homes: Timelines (2020), at: http://www.hamoked.org/files/2019/ 1663820_eng.pdf. M. Sfard, in O. Ben Naftali et al, The ABC of the OPT (CUP, 2018), chap. H. https://www.haaretz.com/1.4749075. HCJ 935/08 Abu Dheim et al v. GOC Home Front Commander, (2009), quoted in Klocker, supra, note 37. HCJ 4597/14 ‘Awawdeh v. Military Commander of the West Bank (2014), accessed at: http://www.hamoked.org/images/1158437_eng.pdf. 11