The Israel Committee against House Demolitions ("ICAHD") is composed of activists who claim they have accumulated first-hand knowledge of the "brutality of the Occupation," and also operate against the expansion of the settlements, the expropriation of land, the closure and separation policy, the uprooting of olive trees, etc.
ICAHD supports and calls for the boycotting of Israel, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel, until the end of the Occupation.
Thus, for example, the organization petitioned Finland and Norway to boycott Israel. In practice, ICAHD initiated various activities, including
- activities against the demolition of Palestinian houses,
- assisting Palestinians with legal advice and in filing complaints with the Israel Police,
- in dealing with the Israeli authorities,
- rebuilding,
- disseminating info on the "Occupation policy" to diplomats, the public and the mass media,
- guided tours of the Occupied Territories,
- connections with other organizations and participation in international conferences at which they distribute the organization's reports.
The complaints were submitted to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of the Internally Displaced, to the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing and to the Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Occupied Territories.
The complaints were based on the No Home, No Homeland: A New Normative Framework for Examining the Practice of Administrative Home Demolitions in East Jerusalem report written by ICAHD. This report was written by Emily Schaeffer, with editing and legal advice from Michael Sfard. The report states that in most cases the demolition of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem constitutes a war crime of property destruction. In demolishing homes, restricting the possibility to build legally and in denying the permanent residency status of the Palestinians – Israel is effectively instituting a process of forced emigration based on ethnicity, and is thereby violating international law and probably also perpetrating a war crime. The report adds that there is evidence that the gamut of activities and policies implemented by Israel against the Palestinians in East Jerusalem are aimed at preserving the demographic balance of a Jewish majority in the city, and that this motive is prohibited and invalid.
In November 2011 ICAHD published a report titled Nowhere Left to Go: Arab al-Jahalin Bedouin Ethnic Displacement. In this report ICAHD claims that the Bedouin who live in East Jerusalem are facing "forced ethnic displacement" by the Israeli authorities. The report's authors claim that the reason for the transfer of the Bedouin settlements is Israel's desire to expand the Jewish settlements in this region, such as Ma'aleh Adumim. Such expansion, ICAHD claims, will harm the Bedouin's way of life and their ability to develop a future Palestinian state.
On 28-29 June, 2011, UN representatives convened in Brussels to deliberate Europe's role in advancing the establishment of the Palestinian state and the promotion of the Middle East peace process. ICAHD co-director general Itay Epshtain participated in the conference on behalf of the organization, along with Palestinian representatives and representatives of many European countries and UN bodies, such as UNESCO, UNRWA and UNRIC. Speakers at the conference included Avrum Burg, a former Knesset speaker who at the time of the conference was the co-chair of the New Israel Fund's International Council, and Neve Gordon of the Department of Politics and Government at Ben Gurion University of the Negev.
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