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Targeting Homes, Shelters and Shelter Seekersduring Operation Cast Leadin the Context of Israeli Military Practice
Submission of the Housing and Land Rights Network 
 –
Habitat International Coalition to the 
UN Fact-finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict 
29 July 2009
Contact
:HIC-HLRN11 Tiba Street, 2
nd
FloorMuhandisinCairo, Egypt+20 (0)2 3760
 –
0755+41 (0)79 503
 –
1485
 
E-mail: hlrn@hlrn.org 
 
1
Table of Contents
 
Introduction
1
Operation Cast Lead
4
UN Shelters 
4
Civilian Residences and Shelters 
6
Tactical forms of house demolition 
7
Displacement 
10
Demography of homelessness 
11
Deceptive warnings 
11
The Past as Prologue
12
Population Transfer since 1948
12
February 1947
 –
May 1948
13
Bedouin of the Naqab/Negev, 1951
 –
53
14
al-Buraij Refugee Camp, 1953
16
Qibya 1953
16
Nahalīn, 1954
 
17
Invasion of Sinai and Gaza Strip (Operation Kadesh), 1956
 –
57
18
The 1967 War
18
Golan, 1967
 –
 
19
Interim incursions in Lebanon, 1970
 –
78
19
“Peace for Galilee,” 1982
 
20
Occupation Policy in Palestine
23
“Demographic” Displacement in S
outh Lebanon, 1980s and 1990s
23
Lebanon 1993
24
Qana, Lebanon, 1996
25
Targeted Assassination at Home, Gaza, 2002
26
Targeting Homes in Gaza, 2004
26
Lebanon War, 2006
28
The principles of distinction and proportionality 
31
Destruction and damage to homes and other shelters 
32
Violations as forced eviction and homelessness 
34
Targeting Lebanese Shelter Seekers 
35
Qana, 2006 
37
Meanwhile, in Gaza
38
Conclusion
38
A
NNEX
1:
 
When Housing Rights Violations ConstituteInternational Crime and Require Remedy
 
41
A
NNEX
2:
 
Relevant Quotes
60
A
NNEX
3: Letter of Transmission
64
Endnotes
67
 
2
Targeting Shelters and Shelter Seekers during Operation Cast Leadin the Context of Israeli Military Practice
Submitted by Housing and Land Rights Network 
 –
Habitat International Coalition to the UN Fact-finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict 
 
Introduction
This report offers the relevant context to evidence of specific attacks carried out byIsraeli forces in the 27 December 2008
 –
19 January 2009 conflict in Gaza and southernIsrael. It seeks to analyse a particular class of those incidents in such a way as to revealthe long pattern of Israeli military practice of attacking civilian shelters and shelterseekers, culminating
in Israel‘s
prosecution of the 2008
 –
09 war in Gaza. The presentinquiry covers a continuum of attacks on homes and others residences, as well asshelters housing displaced persons and refugees, as a
constant object of Israel‘s
military doctrine.Viewing this pattern of military practice of targeting shelters and shelter seekers helps to
―connect the dots‖ in a way that allows a new picture of a
well-established practice toemerge. While many of these facts are not new, the usual method of UN inquiry in theirwake limits investigations to narrow parameters that preclude understanding of thecontinuum of the practice. That shortcoming also allows repeated claims by the authorof these offenses to deny their deliberate nature and counterclaim that such apparentexcessive applications of force outside the law are merely inadvertent and exceptional.By reconstituting the integral pattern of these practices, one can raise the relevantquestions and pose solutions that would serve the purpose of remedy and reparations.
1
 The pattern described in the following pages raises further questions that deservecorresponding inquiry, but also cast greater doubt on the occupying Power
‘s
claims tolawful conduct of war. Beyond the clearer breaches of legal principles of proportionalityand distinction, the citation of official statements related to the events under review helpto address the often-elusive criterion of intent.Finally, this dossier presents evidence of illegal acts, but also seeks to understand therationale that lies at the base of such military behavior. At the outset of thisinvestigation, it seemed apparent that a pattern of such behavior would emerge tocharacterize
Israel‘s targeting of shelters and shelter seekers, as recently witnessed in
Gaza through Operation Cast Lead. However, what the inquiry ultimately revealed wasthat this behavior exceeds the vague contours of coincidental recurrences, but formsmilitary doctrine.This submission summarizes those events in Gaza, from 27 December 2008 through 19January 2009 that involve the military targeting of homes and shelters, including theattacks on civilian homes and displaced persons hunkering down in UN facilities underfull UN coordination with Israeli authorities in order that Israel meet its obligations toprotect civilians. The subsequent information then takes the reader through achronological treatment of analogous events to demonstrate the context and continuous
of 00

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