Facing Expulsion

On Wednesday night, 6 January 2021, at around 9:00 P.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a police escort to the community of Khirbet Yarza. The forces delivered a warning to cease the destruction of antiquities for two pre-fabs which were home to two families, numbering 10 people in total, including six children. The pre-fabs had been donated to the families by humanitarian aid organizations after authorities demolished their homes in late September 2020.

On Friday evening, 8 January 2021, at around 6:00 P.M., soldiers came to the village of Furush Beit Dajan. They confiscated a digger and a tractor from a village resident, who was using them to repair the pathway leading to his home. The forces ordered the owner and another resident to drive the vehicles to a nearby military camp.

On Sunday morning, 10 January 2021, at around 10:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military jeep to eastern Khirbet ‘Atuf. The forces confiscated a truck owned by a Tubas resident that was being used for repairs to an agricultural path funded by the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture. From there, they continued north to Khirbet a-Ras al-Ahmar, where they delivered a demolition order by power of Military Order 1797 for a tent meant to house a resident.

The next morning, Monday, 11 January 2021, at around 11:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a police escort to the village of a-Nassariyah in Nablus District. They confiscated a digger and a bulldozer from a resident who was repairing pathways in the area. The forces loaded the bulldozer onto a tow truck and ordered the resident to drive the digger to the al-Hamra Checkpoint.

The same day, at around 5:00 P.M., soldiers came to the village of Cardalah and confiscated a water container and an agricultural roller owned by a construction company, which were being used to repair pathways inside the village. The forces ordered the two drivers to drive the container and the roller to the nearby settlement of Mehola.

Tuesday, 29 December 2020, at around 7:30 A.M., Israeli Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort, two diggers and a bulldozer to the area of al-Khalediyeh, which lies between Khirbet Ma’in and the village of al-Karmil. The forces destroyed a cinder block structure used to house a family of 19, including ten minors. Family members and other residents protested the demolition, setting fire to tires and climbing to the roof of the house. Dozens of Border Police officers and soldiers who arrived as backup threw tear gas canisters and stun grenades at the residents and the structure, after giving them just a few minutes to evacuate. A woman, a baby and a four-year-old child required medical care for gas inhalation and were taken to a hospital in the town of Yatta. Another local resident, aged 65, was treated on site. During the incident, the forces detained four residents, ultimately releasing three and arresting one.

The forces then headed south to Khirbet Wadi Ejheish, where they destroyed a prefabricated home used to house a family of eight, including six minors. They then headed north, to the village of al-Buweib, where they destroyed a tent used as a livestock pen.

In addition, at around 9:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort, two diggers and two trucks, one of them a crane truck, to the community of a-Nuwei’ma, north of Jericho. The forces dismantled and confiscated four tents and two shacks that served as seasonal homes of six families with a total of 28 members, including 14 minors. The forces also uprooted 350 four-year-old olive trees owned by another family.

On Monday, 14 December 2020, at around 8:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a Border Police escort and a crane truck at the community of a-Zar’i (Za’atrah), which lies near the village of a-Za’ayem in al-Quds District. The forces dismantled and confiscated two tin-roofed wooden shacks that were home to two couples.

The community consists of 20 families, numbering 125 people in total, including 45 minors. The residents are hooked up to the village’s water and power grids and their children attend its schools. From there, the forces continued to a-Za’ayem itself, where they dismantled and confiscated a shack belonging to a resident that served as a carwash. The forces also confiscated equipment from the owner of the carwash.

At the same time, around 8:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a Border Police escort and a crane truck at the community of Abu a-Nuwar, which lies southeast of the town of al-‘Eizariyah in an area Israel defines as E1. The forces dismantled and confiscated a tin-roofed wooden shack that was home to a family of six, including four children.

On Tuesday, 8 December 2020, at around 9:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and two crane trucks at the area of Ras 'Ein al-‘Auja in Jericho District. When the forces arrived, residents gathered at the site and protested against the demolition. In response, the soldiers hurled tear gas canisters at them. The forces dismantled and confiscated three shacks intended to house three families numbering 19 people in total, including nine children. They also dismantled and confiscated three shacks intended to serve as livestock enclosures and one intended for storing fodder. Some of the shacks were still under construction.

On Wednesday, 2 December 2020, at around 1:00 P.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort at the Palestinian community of Birin, northeast of the town of Yatta. The forces confiscated a digger owned by a Hebron resident that was used to fix agricultural roads in the area.

On Tuesday, 1 December 2020, at around 9:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with an escort of soldiers and Border Police officers, two crane trucks, a bulldozer, and a digger at the Tal Zif area in the village of Zif, northeast of the town of Yatta in Hebron District. The forces destroyed a cave used for agricultural storage belonging to a village resident. They also confiscated two prefabs used for agricultural purposes owned by two Hebron residents.

Jordan Valley:

On Wednesday, 25 November 2020, at around 9:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military jeep escort, police officers, two bulldozers and a truck crane at the village of Fayasil a-Tahta in the northern Jordan Valley. The forces dismantled and confiscated the foundations of two shacks intended to house an extended family of seven, including two children. The shacks were donated to the family by a humanitarian aid organization after the Civil Administration demolished their homes last September.

Later, the forces demolished two shacks that housed a family of ten, four of them children, as well as a kitchen, a cement outhouse, and two metal-plated tin-roofed shacks that the family used to raise livestock. The forces also destroyed a fence and disconnected the shacks’ electricity grid.

In addition, the forces demolished ten shacks that were used by two families and included a toilet, fodder storage, stables, a chicken coop and tabun ovens. They also destroyed wheat and almond husks that were used as livestock fodder.

At around midday, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military jeep escort and a crane truck at the community of Tal a-Smadi, northwest of the village of al-Jiftlik in the Jordan Valley. The forces dismantled and confiscated a shack that was home to a couple, as well as an outhouse and a water container donated to them by a humanitarian aid organization after the forces demolished the same structures on 21 October 2020.


Masafer Yatta, South Hebron Hills:

The same day, around 9:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with Border Police officers at the community of Khirbet a-Rakeez in the Masafer Yatta area of the South Hebron Hills and demolished two structures that were home to a family of six, including three children. They also demolished a structure used for agriculture that belonged to another family in the community. The forces continued south to Khirbet a-Sarurah, where they demolished an outhouse owned by a community resident. They then continued further south to the community of Khirbet Khilet a-Dabe’, where they demolished two structures under construction intended for two families, numbering 11 people in total, including seven children, and another structure that contained a toilet and a kitchen.

From there, they went to the community of Mughayir al-‘Abid, where they demolished two structures used for agriculture that belonged to a community resident. The forces also cut and destroyed a two-kilometer water line servicing the communities of al-Fakhit, a-Safai, Mughayir al-‘Abid and a-Taban. The water line, donated by humanitarian organizations, cost almost 100,000 EUR to install. The Civil Administration already destroyed Masafer Yatta’s main water supply pipeline in February 2019, but it has since been restored. In October 2020, the Civil Administration destroyed a local pipeline servicing the communities of Mughayir al-‘Abid and Khirbet al-Majaz.

Finally, the forces arrived at the community of Khirbet Jenbah, where they destroyed a plastic water container a community resident placed on his farmland to water his olive grove. In order to make their way to the container, the forces uprooted four olive trees and demolished a wire fence around the plot. Some of the demolished structures were donated to the communities by humanitarian aid organizations.

The same day, Israel demolished a house under construction in a-Lubban a-Gharbiyah, Ramallah District

At around 6:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with soldiers, police officers and a bulldozer at the village of a-Lubban a-Gharbiyah in Ramallah District. The forces demolished the foundation of a structure under construction (a floor and posts) intended for a family of eight, including six children. They also demolished a shack owned by another resident that was used for storage. The demolitions were carried out by power of Military Order 1797.

Since 2 November 2020, Israeli troops have been training in the Jordan Valley with small arms and tank fire. The exercises, held near Palestinian communities or on their pastureland from Sunday through Thursday, endanger the residents’ lives and damage their livelihoods.

Most of the exercises have been held in the northern Jordan Valley, especially near the communities of al-Farisiyah, Khirbet al-Malih, al-Burj, Khirbet Samrah and Khirbet Ibzik. While the troops were training, some residents left their homes for fear for their lives and did not take their flocks out to graze. In the area of Khirbet al-Malih, the troops trained only 100 meters or so away from the residents’ homes. In other places, they trained about 3 kilometers from community homes. As part of the exercises, soldiers fired tank shells at hilly terrain and pastureland.

On Tuesday, 4 November 2020, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military jeep escort at the communities of al-Burj, ‘Ein al-Meyteh and Nab’ al-Ghazal in the Jordan Valley. They notified the residents that the following week, starting Tuesday, they would have to evacuate the premises every day at set hours so troops could train within their communities’ territory. The training was eventually held without evacuating the residents, who left of their own accord for fear for their lives and did not take their flocks out to graze.

Last week, from 15 to 19 November, hundreds of soldiers trained in the pastureland of Khirbet al-Malih, about 100 meters away from residents’ homes. The soldiers fired tank shells and forbade the residents from grazing their flocks in the area.

On the morning of 24 November 2020, at around 8:30 A.M., two Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort at the communities of ‘Ein al-Meyteh and al-Burj. They ordered ten families, numbering 60 people in total, mostly minors, to vacate their homes and stay at a distance of about 100 meters south of the communities' residential area until 4:00 P.M.

On 18 November 2020, at around 2:30 P.M., soldiers and police officers came with a bulldozer to the Masafer Yatta area in the South Hebron Hills. The forces used boulders and mud to block two dirt roads leading to the community of She’b al-Batem. From there, they continued west to the community of Khirbet Wadi Ejheish, where they blocked two dirt roads leading to it. The roads connect the communities to Route 317. The military has blocked the roads leading to She’b al-Batem several times, but the residents removed the roadblocks. Blockig roads is part of Israel’s routine harassment of Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills, and in Masafer Yatta in particular, in its bid to expel them from the area and their homes

On Tuesday morning, 17 November 2020, at around 9:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military jeep escort and a bulldozer to northeast Khirbet ‘Atuf. The forces demolished a tin shack with a cement floor intended for agricultural use, after the owner – a community resident – was issued a stop-work order on 10 May 2020.


Later that morning, at around 11:00 A.M., soldiers came with a bulldozer to the village of Furush Beit Dajan and demolished an agricultural pool owned by a resident.


At around noon, forces came with a digger to Khirbet Um al-Jamal, where they dismantled and confiscated a wooden hut that three activists from Tubas and Ramallah had set up in solidarity with area residents. Two days earlier, on 15 November 2020, soldiers had detained the activists and confiscated a car belonging to one of them.


At around 1:00 P.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military jeep escort and a crane truck to the community of Khallet Khader in the village of al-Farisiyah. The forces dismantled and confiscated a prefab that housed a family of three, including a child. They also demolished an outhouse and a water container. All three structures were donated to the family by a humanitarian aid organization after Israeli forces demolished their home on 19 October 2020.