Israeli army refuses to investigate soldiers who seized, vandalized and trashed private building in Hawara

Israeli soldiers in Hawara in March 2023

Hagar Shezaf reports in Haaretz on 11 May 2023:

Following the deadly settlers’ rampage in late February, soldiers from the Israeli army took over a private building in the town and turned it into an army post, while defecating in various rooms and vandalizing the place.

The building’s owner – who documented the soldiers’ actions – filed a complaint with the Israel Defense Forces through the Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din, however military lawyers responded that it would not open an investigation, instead referring the complaint to the public inquiries officer’s unit.

The IDF further stated that the building was seized with the approval of the Shomron Regional Brigade Commander but refused to present Haaretz with the order.

The building is owned by Hawara resident Salah Odeh, and the apartments are currently up for sale. Out of the total 42 apartment units in the building, only one is currently occupied. Odeh maintains that the soldiers entered the building this past March, a day after the Hawara riots began, and occupied several rooms without presenting an appropriate order beforehand. A few days later, Hawara residents recorded the soldiers bathing on the building’s rooftop in plain sight.

Speaking to Haaretz, Odeh said that new owners during this period were prevented from entering the building by the soldiers.

Some two weeks after the army commandeered the building, Odeh arrived again with potential buyers. The soldiers allowed them to enter this time, but only after making them wait forty minutes and required them to be escorted through the building. Once they entered the apartment, Odeh and the buyers found the apartment littered with toilet paper, feces and garbage bags which Odeh had documented.

Leftover food waste and garbage left by the Israeli soldiers in the apartment building

“We found the whole place full of filth, papers, food waste, bags and a lingering stench throughout the apartment,” Odeh explained. “The soldiers also defecated [inside the apartment] even though there wasn’t any plumbing, and in spite of the fact that the army placed three portable toilet facilities right at the building entrance.”

Odeh documented two more apartments that were trashed after the soldiers’ stay and large piles of garbage stacked throughout the building. Amongst the photos, empty pizza boxes and takeaway containers as well as garbage bags are seen scattered around the place. Odeh told of another apartment where the soldiers had locked all the rooms inside. “The couple who came to view the apartment ran away,” he added.

On one occasion when the soldiers left the building, Odeh noticed that several water meters had been burned and that the army’s portable toilets had also caught fire. In the complaint Odeh filed to the army, the damage was attributed to the soldiers. In recent weeks, according to Odeh, soldiers have still frequented the building, but in smaller groups. He says they use one of the balconies as a lookout spot.

Following the documentation Odeh provided to Yesh Din, attorney Michal Ziv contacted Lt. Col. Kobi Markus from the IDF’s Attorney for Special Affairs and filed a complaint on Odeh’s behalf. Ziv demanded that the soldiers involved be interrogated and given a warning and that Odeh be summoned to testify.

However, the military replied that they did not believe there was any suspicion of criminal activity that warranted an investigation. They further said that the complaint was referred to the public inquiries officer’s unit.

“The army continues its deplorable practice of taking over houses of [West Bank] residents and ruining them,” a statement by Yesh Din said. “The Hawara residents have suffered both from settler violence and from the military’s violence. The decision to close the case is invalid, and we will act to overturn it.”

The army’s takeover of privately owned buildings in Hawara is not unusual. The IDF had seized several other buildings in the wake of the deadly shooting of two Israeli settler brothers and the following settler rampage in the town. “To this day, there are between five and six buildings that the army still occupies, in addition to private homes and the constant presence of soldiers at shop entrances, sometimes up to 24 hours a day,” head of the Hawara Council Mo’en Damidi told Haaretz.

After riots, the army even issued an order that closed the shops on the village’s main street for six days. “The economic situation is bad. People don’t stop by to shop in the stores and the army closed some of the roads with gates or mounds of ash” added Damidi. “This government is suffocating Hawara. It used to be a place of commerce.” Last year, the army had also seized five buildings in the town, raising the Israeli flag on one of them.

An IDF spokesperson stated in response that “by the assessment of the situation and security considerations, it was decided to temporarily seize an unoccupied building located on the main road in Hawara, for the benefit of activities to thwart terrorist attacks and to increase security in the area. The decision to seize the building was made in accordance with the powers given to the army by law.”

The statement further said that an investigation was not opened because after “examining the complaint, it was found that the allegations do not raise suspicion of a criminal offense. The complaint was forwarded to the commanders for examination, and the petitioners were informed.”

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