From 1967 to 2005 Israel demolished hundreds of Palestinian homes in the occupied territories as a punitive measure. The declared rationale of the demolitions was deterrence; the authorities argued that harming the property of the families of Palestinians who perpetrated attacks against Israelis or who were suspected of involvement in attacks would deter others from carrying out such attacks. In early 2005 the Israeli Defense Minister adopted the recommendation of a military commission charged with investigating the issue and ordered that home demolition as a punitive measure cease. His decision was made partly in view of the commission’s finding that that the deterrent value of demolitions had not been proven, and that the policy may in fact have the opposite effect.