Facing Expulsion

On the morning of Thursday, 31 January 2019, at around 8:00 A.M., Israeli Civil Administration personnel came with a Border Police escort to the region of Masafer Yatta (Greater Yatta) in the South Hebron Hills. They brought a bulldozer and a tractor which they used to dig a deep trench across the road that connects the community of She’b al-Batem with the rest of the Masafer Yatta communities. The Israeli military had already torn up the road a year earlier, in late 2017, and the residents then repaved it. These travel restrictions are but another step in a long saga of harassment by the authorities against the local residents, adopted in an effort to drive them out of their homes and the area.

Yesterday, Wednesday, 16 January 2019, at around 7:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a digger and a military-jeep escort to the Palestinian community of Fasayil al-Wasta in the northern Jordan Valley. The forces demolished a caravan housing a six-person family, including four children, and a concrete structure the family was using for a kitchen and bathroom. The forces later arrived at a-Nuwei’mah a-Tahta in northern Jericho, where they demolished a vacant, tin-roofed concrete structure slated to house a six-person family, including four children, who were living in tents in the interim, as well as a livestock pen.

Yesterday, Sunday, 13 January 2019, at around 10:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with troops, jeeps and tanks at Khirbet Ibziq in the Jordan Valley and ordered 13 families to leave their homes until 6:00 A.M. the next day. The families were forced to walk for more than seven kilometers. This is the fourth temporary displacement pursuant to orders given to the families on 13 December 2018. This particular displacement was scheduled to take place on 31 December 2018, but the Civil Administration told residents it would be postponed the day before. Three days ago, the Civil Administration told residents to report to the Tayasir checkpoint to receive updated orders, claiming mud prevented access to the community. Two days ago, after the residents did not appear, the Civil Administration informed them via the Palestinian DCO that they would have to leave their homes the next day (13 January 2019), to make way for military training.

Today, Wednesday, 26 December 2018, at around noon, Civil Administration personnel arrived again with troops, jeeps and tanks at Khirbet Ibziq in the Jordan Valley and ordered 13 families to leave their homes until 6:00 A.M. the next day. The evacuation came after on 13 December 2018, forces gave the families temporary displacement orders for four different dates. The families where forced to walk for more than seven kilometers. While they were away, tanks flattened fields where residents were growing legumes and cereals.

Yesterday, Sunday, 23 December 2018, at around noon, Civil Administration personnel arrived with troops, jeeps and tanks at Khirbet Ibziq in the Jordan Valley and ordered 13 families to leave their homes until 6:00 A.M. the next day. The evacuation came after on 13 December 2018, forces gave the families temporary displacement orders for four different dates. The families took some of their flock with them and walked for more than seven kilometers. While they were away, tanks flattened fields where residents were growing legumes and cereals.

On the morning of Thursday, 13 December 2018, at around 11 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military jeep escort to the Palestinian community of Khirbet Ibziq in the northern Jordan Valley. They served temporary displacement orders to 13 families – a total of 70 people, including 38 children – citing military training in the area as the pretext. The orders require the families to vacate their homes from 12:00 noon until 6:00 the next morning on 16 December, 23 December, 26 December, and 31 December 2018. In other words, the families must spend the night away from home.

Two of the 13 families were served additional orders, requiring them to vacate their homes also on 17 December 2018 from 12 noon until 4:00 P.M., and on 18 December 2018 from 10:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. Twelve of the 13 families had already been temporarily displaced from their homes in March 2018.

Yesterday (16 December 2018), at around 12:00 noon, military jeeps and tanks arrived in the area, as did Civil Administration personnel who instructed the families to vacate their homes. The families complied. Taking along a portion of their flocks but leaving behind young lambs and kids, the families walked a distance of over 5 kilometers. Some were able to stay with relatives, while others remained outside, exposed to the elements. Today, 17 December 2018, at around 12:00 noon, the Civil Administration returned to Khirbet Ibziq and ordered the two families who had received the additional displacement orders to vacate their homes.


In addition, at around 8:00 A.M. this morning (17 December 2018), Israeli infantry, military jeeps and tanks came to the area by the Tayasir School in the village of al-‘Aqabah in the northern Jordan Valley, and trained there.
Videos filmed by 'Aref Dagharmeh, B'Tselem

On Monday, 3 December 2018, at around 8:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a bulldozer and a military-jeep escort to the area of Fasayil al-Wusta in the northern Jordan Valley. The force demolished a concrete structure with a tin roof that was home to a family of eight, four of them children, and a shack that was home to an 18-year-old with a physical disability. From 2013 to 2015, Israeli forces demolished homes and livestock pens that belonged to his family several times.

Video filmed by 'Aref Dagharmeh, B'Tselem

On Sunday, 2 December 2018, at around 10:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military-jeep escort to Khirbet Ibziq, which is located north-east of Tubas. The force confiscated a tractor belonging to a farmer from Bardalah, on the grounds that it/he was within a forbidden military zone, and ordered him to drive it to the Bet Shean/Bardalah checkpoint.

At around 8:00 A.M., on the morning of Tuesday, 27 November 2018, Israeli Civil Administration personnel arrived at the Palestinian community of a-Shuna with a bulldozer and a military-jeep escort, and demolished a livestock pen owned by a resident of the nearby community of al-‘Ajaj (Id’eis).

Today, Thursday, 8 November 2018, at around 7:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a tractor, a truck-mounted crane and a military-jeep escort to the Palestinian community of Khirbet Ibziq, which is located north-east of Tubas. The forces dismantled and confiscated a tin shack that served as an office for the community's primary school. The shack was donated to the school by the Tubas Council after the Civil Administration dismantled and confiscated last month two pre-fabs that had served as the offices of the staff and teachers of the school

Later, at around 8:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel, accompanied by a military jeep, confiscated a vehicle belonging to the Tubas Council near the school, and a tractor belonging to a resident of the community, on the grounds that they are not permitted in the area as it is a closed military zone. The forces ordered the driver of the council car to drive to the Bet-She'an/Bardala checkpoint, and one of the soldiers drove the tractor there. At the checkpoint, the vehicles were mounted on a tow-truck and confiscated.