Planning, Restrictions Building Land Permits Confiscation on Use and and Home Access Demolitions Introduction 103 an appellant’s house is not illegal in order to receive a building permit requires showing documentation usually including: proof of ownership,356 title to the plot, demonstration that the land is zoned for development and building purposes, among other conditions. The Military Commander’s common response to an appeal is insistence that the building violates zoning requirements upon which the appellant is ordered to demolish his own home or pay the cost of demolishing it.357 In theory, once administrative procedures are exhausted Palestinians may appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court. Punitive (“Deterrent”) Demolitions Punitive home demolitions for “deterrence” purposes accounted for six percent of demolitions from 1967 to 2012.358 The policy of punitive demolitions varies, but its declared objective is deterrence through harming relatives of Palestinians who carried out, are suspected to have carried out, or are expected to carry out (futurereprisal) attacks on Israeli citizens or military infrastructure.359 Regulation 119 (1) of the Defense (Emergency) Regulations empowers a Military Commander to order the punitive demolition or sealing of a house. A decision of the Military Commander is sufficient to initiate a demolition.360 Typically, the wrecking crew is accompanied by soldiers, police and Civil Administration officials. Present family-members are not always permitted to remove their belongings.361 During the Second Intifada, more than 628 Palestinian homes were demolished as collective punishment or “deterrence”.362 The Israeli Supreme Court stated that demolitions are reserved for use, “only in special circumstances,”363 and that the purpose of 119 Defense (Emergency) Regulations is, "to deter potential terrorists 356 Military Order 291, issued in 1968, froze the registration of lands. The Israeli authorities largely refuse to recognize documents other than pre-1968 registrations held by Palestinians as proof of ownership. 357 BADIL and COHRE, Ruling Palestine, 118. 358 ICAHD, ‘Demolishing Homes, Demolishing Peace’. 359 The Israeli Ministerial Committee for Matters of National Security stated in 2002 that, ‘according to the evaluation of the government and security forces, destruction of the homes of attackers is a deterrent to the initiatives of potential attackers.’ See: Bahar Et Al. V. IDF Commander of the West Bank (HCJ 2002). 360 HAMOKED- Center for the Defence of the Individual, ‘House Demolitions’, House Demolitions, n.d.; available from http://www.hamoked.org/topic.aspx?tid=main_3; accessed 2 May 2013. 361 Jeff Halper, ‘House Demolitions and Israel’s Policy of Hafrada’. 362 The Israeli Military publicized that it had suspended the policy of punitive demolition in February 2005 after it reached the conclusion that rather than deterring attacks, punitive demolitions provoked people and lead to more attacks. However, the suspension was canceled on 19 January 2009. See: ICAHD, Israel’s Policy of Demolishing Palestinian Homes Must End. 363 Hamri V. Commander of Judea and Samaria, 132 (HCJ 1982).