Israel razes Palestinian’s home in Ramallah
RAMALLAH: Israel’s army said on Thursday it had demolished the home of a Palestinian man with US citizenship.
The move was denounced by the United States, which said the punitive demolitions of Palestinian homes “exacerbate tensions and undercut efforts to advance a negotiated twostate solution.”
An Israeli army spokesman confirmed that “troops demolished the residence of Montasser Shalabi in the village of Turmus Ayya, northeast of Ramallah.”
The demolition came ater Israel’s top court rejected an appeal by Shalabi’s estranged wife Sanaa Shalabi, who claimed that his life centred on the US and that he made only occasional visits to the West Bank house.
The Supreme Court accepted the state’s position that the home belonged to Shalabi and that he spent time in it when he was in the West Bank, ruling that the army was therefore justified in carrying out a punitive measure at the property.
Sanaa, 40, said that troops first arrived at 1:00am to place explosives around her home.
The demolition operation lasted through the night and into the morning.
“This is our life. What happened to us is normal. We were prepared for it,” she said, and called her husband a “hero”.
The army said that during the demolition “approximately 200 rioters hurled rocks and launched fireworks” at troops, who responded with “riot dispersal means.” Shalabi did not live in the home that was destroyed, according to the Israeli human rights organisation Hamoked, which unsuccessfully contested its demolition before Israel’s Supreme Court with Sanaa.
Executive director Jessica Montell said the couple were estranged. Sanaa lived in the home with three of their seven children.
The whole family are also US nationals. “The man accused of the atack doesn’t live in the house,” Montell said, adding that he lived in the US and would come “once or twice a year.” Sanaa “was not in any way involved and didn’t know anything about the atack. We thought this should be grounds for not demolishing or just demolishing one room,” she added.
She said Shalabi suffered from mental illness, a claim that was raised in the court petition as well but was rejected by the justices, who said he was examined ater the atack and found to be mentally sound.