On Monday, 19 January 2009, the Israeli army sealed off two floors in the family home of 'Alaa Abu Dahim, who committed the terrorist attack at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva on 6 March 2008. The house is located in the Jabal Mukabber neighborhood of East Jerusalem. This is the first time in four years that Israel has sealed the house of relatives of Palestinians who carried out terror attacks against Israelis.

From 1967 to 2005, Israel implemented a policy of demolishing and sealing houses in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to punish relatives of Palestinians who had harmed Israelis. Underlying the policy was the claim that, given potential attackers' concerns for their families, it would deter Palestinians from carrying out terror attacks. In the framework of this policy, Israel demolished or sealed 667 houses from October 2001 to the end of January 2004, leaving more than 4,200 persons homeless.

Workers seal the Abu Dahim family home. Photo: 'Amar 'Awad, Reuters, 19 Jan. '09.

In February 2005, Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz and Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon adopted the recommendation of a team appointed to analyze the matter, headed by Major General Udi Shani, that the policy should be terminated. The team found that house demolition does not serve to deter and causes greater damage than benefit. The team's findings undermined the claim of deterrence that Israel had argued for many years.

Despite this, yesterday Israel sealed parts of the Abu Dahim house, as stated above, which is home to the parents, brothers and sisters of 'Alaa Abu Dahim. The floors that were sealed were a residential floor, on which the perpetrator, his parents and one of his brothers lived, and the basement floor, which has apartments for rent.

The sealing was carried out after a panel of judges of the Israeli High Court of Justice, headed by Justice Miriam Naor, rejected the petition of the family and of HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual. The court accepted the state's argument that, in the opinion of the Israel Security Agency, the policy serves as a deterrent, and held that the state may use this measure again. The judges approved the sealing even though the state did not argue that relatives of the perpetrator had aided him or known of his plans. The perpetrator's father even stated that, had he known of his son's intention, he would have done everything he could to stop him.

On 14 March 2008, B'Tselem wrote to the attorney general, Menachem Mazuz, demanding that he prevent harm to the family's house. The organization did not receive a reply.

Punitive policies of this kind are forbidden under international humanitarian law. This policy is aimed against innocent persons - relatives of suspects, none of whom are alleged to have been involved in any offense. As such, it is collective punishment, which contravenes the principle that a person may not be punished for the acts of another.