Restrictions Land Confiscation on Use and Access Introduction 73 any construction. Following this, some villagers applied to the Israeli Civil Administration for building permits but all applications were rejected. In 2007, the Supreme Court rejected the villagers’ petition for building permits.262 In August 2010, Rabbis for Human Rights petitioned the Supreme Court on behalf of the villagers to overturn orders prohibiting access to their land.263 However, in 2011, during four separate waves of demolitions, 41 structures were targeted including 31 residential tents and two water cisterns displacing 37 people (including 20 children) and affecting another 70.264 On 12 June 2012, the Israeli Civil Administration served further demolition orders, which they claimed were renewals of orders from the 1990s, on the residents of Susiya allowing only a limited opportunity to a number of residents to appeal to the Civil Administration Supreme Planning Council within three days.265 An appeal was duly submitted, but the Council still has not handed down a decision on the matter. Moreover, on 31 January 2013, the Israeli Supreme Court postponed hearing an appeal by the villagers against demolition orders upon their homes.266 Colonies and the ‘Prior Coordination’ Regime Colonies are illegal under international law as they violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the transfer of the civilian population of the occupying power into the occupied territory. This illegality has been confirmed by the International Court of Justice, the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention and the United Nations Security Council. According to a report of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs occupied Palestinian territory, “[f]or the last few years, access to Palestinian private land within the settlements’ outer limits has been subjected to ‘prior coordination’ with the Israeli authorities. If approved, farmers will be granted a limited number of days during which they can access their land within, or next to, a colony’s outer limits. To that effect, farmers must submit a request to the District Civil Liaison Office in their area, including documents proving their ownership over a relevant parcel of land, which is then transferred to the Israeli District Civil Liaison Office 262 B’Tselem, South Hebron Hills: Khirbet Susiya. 263 B’Tselem, South Hebron Hills: Khirbet Susiya. 264 OCHA, Susya: At Imminent Risk Of Forced Displacement. 265 B’Tselem, South Hebron Hills: Khirbet Susiya. 266 Ma’an, ‘Israeli Court Postpones Hearing on Hebron Village Susiya’, Ma’an News Agency (Hebron, February 1, 2013); available from http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=561125; accessed 24 April 2013.