The International Center for Legal Studies (ICLS) provided the International Criminal Court with a notice in accordance with the provisions of Article (15) of the Rome Statute regarding the crime of demolishing the house of the prisoner Mohammad Kabha as it is the first crime committed by the Israeli authorities after the decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC to extend its jurisdiction to the Palestinian territories.
The ICLS said in a statement reached Safa that this crime comes as an extension of the penalty for demolishing Palestinian homes as a systematic collective punishment committed in Palestine, aiming to displace the Palestinians from their lands.
The Israeli authorities carry out demolitions under various pretexts, including building without a permit, or building in firing zones for the purpose of military training, or even demolishing the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out operations against the Israeli army or settlers.
This policy was officially announced by the Israeli government on August 1, 2002, and it enjoys the support of the most supreme judicial court of Israel, which justified the demolition decisions based on Article 119 of the British Emergency Regulations of 1945, which are violate the provisions of international law.
The ICLS listed the material facts of the crime, explaining that on December 24, 2020, the Shin Bet arrested Mohammad Kabha, 40, from Tura al-Gharbiya town in Jenin, for allegedly killing a female settler on December 20.
Besides, it indicated that the demolition of the house where the prisoner's wife and three children live was carried out last Wednesday with explosive materials after the Israeli Court rejected the family’s petition and approved the army’s decision to demolish it even before the prisoner was convicted of the Shin Bet’s allegations.
The Israeli forces stormed the village, accompanied by intelligence officers and police dogs, and photographed the house in preparation for its demolition, and declared the military zone closed, which led to the outbreak of confrontations between the Palestinians and those forces and resulted in the suffocation of Mrs. Fatima Nayef Kabha, who was transferred to the government hospital.
The ICLS called on the Prosecutor of the Court on behalf of the victims and their families to begin examining the extent to which the facts of the demolition process apply to the description of crimes within the jurisdiction of the court and to consider it as part of their investigations after the pre-trial circuit’s decision to extend the jurisdiction of the court to the Palestinian territories.
Source : Safa