98 Israeli Land Grab and Forced Population Transfer of Palestinians and it’s very expensive. For 7 years, I have been trying to connect my house to the electricity company. Finally, two months ago, we succeeded to do so. In the past, I had electricity by way of a diesel generator. Now we are trying to have direct water pipelines which we have been denied so far. Military (“Security”) Demolitions Military home demolitions for “security” purposes accounted for 47 percent of all the demolitions in the occupied Palestinian territory between 1967 and 2012.334 In the vast majority of cases, residents were not even accused by Israel of committing any security offenses.335 Demolitions may be used as a method of clearing vast tracts of land in the course of military operations, often for reasons Israel claims are ‘security-related’ such as expanding roads, colonies and the construction of the Annexation Wall. Israel accounts for destroyed houses as the ‘collateral damage’ of military activity. The category may also include demolitions in the process of capturing or killing ‘wanted persons’. Military Order 1651 (Section 332)336 provides wide latitude in prohibiting or demolishing buildings by invoking security concerns:337 (B) A Military Commander is empowered, in an order, to prohibit construction or to order its cessation or to stipulate conditions for construction, if he believes that it is necessary for the security of the Area or to ensure public order. (E) If construction is done in contravention of an order issued under Subsection (B) the Military Commander is empowered to issue an order to destroy, dismantle or remove the building or the part of it in which such construction was done. Additionally, the Israeli Manual on the Laws of War (1998) states that, “The only restriction is to refrain from destroying property senselessly, where there is no 334 ICAHD, ‘Demolishing Homes, Demolishing Peace’. 335 ICAHD, ‘Displacing - House Demolitions and Closure’, ICHAD, n.d.; available from http://www.icahd. org/node/36. 336 Military Order 393 (1976) served the function of enabling the prohibition or demolition of structures based on ‘security’ concerns until Military Order 1651of 2009 consolidated previous military orders including Military Order 393. 337 Violators of this Order can be sentenced to prison on the basis of the text. Order Regarding Security Provisions [Consolidated Version] (Judea and Samaria) 5770-2009, 2009; available from http:// nolegalfrontiers.org/en/military-orders/mil01; accessed 25 April 2013..