Facing Expulsion

On Monday, 17 February 2020, at around 8:30 A.M., personnel from Israel’s national water company, Mekorot, arrived with Civil Administration officials, military jeeps and two bulldozers to Khirbet ‘Alan which is located in the Jordan Valley, southwest of the village of al-Jiftlik, and is home to about 50 families. The forces disconnected pipes that supplied water for domestic and agricultural use in the community. Israel, which has controlled most water sources in the West Bank since it occupied it nearly fifty years ago, disregards the severe water shortage suffered by Palestinians and promotes projects that can alleviate it only when they involve improvements to settlement infrastructure. At the same time, Israel demolishes every water supply system that Palestinians try to erect themselves in Area C, subjecting them to intolerable living conditions in order to force them out of the area.

On Wednesday, 12 February 2020, at around 12:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with military jeeps and a crane truck to the community of Tal a-Smadi northwest of the village of al-Jiftlik, in the Jordan Valley. Sixteen families live in this community, 13 of them permanently and three on a seasonal basis. The forces dismantled and confiscated a shack that housed a family of three, including one child, and delivered a “warning order for cessation of antiquity destruction” to four other families.

On Friday, 3 January 2020, at around 2:00 P.M., military forces arrived in jeeps at farmland located southwest of Khirbet al-Malih in the northern Jordan Valley. The forces confiscated four tractors owned by residents of Tubas, and another rented from the al-’Aqabah Agricultural Cooperative. The soldiers ordered the residents to drive the tractors to the Saura military camp, located west of Khirbet Samrah.

Two days earlier, on Wednesday, 1 January 2020, at around 2:00 P.M., military forces arrived in a jeep to farmlands south of the village of Furush Beit Dajan. The forces confiscated two tractors owned by a local resident and ordered him to drive one of them to the Huwarah military camp. The second tractor was driven there by one of the soldiers.

The military still has the confiscated tractors.

On Thursday, 2 January 2020, at around 9:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived at the Msafar Yatta area in the South Hebron Hills and confiscated a Palestinian Ministry of Health jeep serving as a mobile clinic. The jeep was on its way to Khirbet al-Majaz and it was confiscated on the grounds that it had entered a firing zone. The Civil Administration personnel held the jeep near the settlement of Susiya, ordered the physicians to get out and took the jeep to the Etzion military camp.

On Dec. 16, at around 7:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with military jeeps and a bulldozer to the community of al-Ka'abneh, in the Wadi al-Qalt area of al-Quds District. The forces demolished a shack used a residence by a family of eight, including five children. The forces also demolished another shack belonging to the family and used as a livestock pen.

On Wednesday, 4 December 2019, at around 5:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel accompanied by Border Police and special Patrol Unit officers arrived at the Wadi Abu al-Hindy community in al-Quds District, southeast of the town of al-’Eizariyah. The forces demolished two shacks that housed two married couples, brothers and their wives, a total of four people, and two other shacks used as washrooms.

The Wadi Abu al-Hindy community is home to about 280 residents who make their living primarily from shepherding. It has an elementary and middle school for local children. Children of high school age study in the a-Sawahrah area or in al-’Eizariyah. At around 6:00 A.M., the forces arrived at the Abu a-Nuwar community, located southeast of the town of al-’Eizariyah in an area Israel refers to as E1, where they dismantled and confiscated a shack used by a local resident as a livestock pen.

At around 10:00, the forces arrived at the Wadi Esneisel community where they demolished two shacks where two families numbering a total of 13 members, including nine children, had lived. The forces demolished two more shacks, one used as a communal kitchen and the other as a communal washroom. The shacks had been donated by an international aid organization.

The community of Wadi Esneisel is home to some 130 residents who make their living primarily from shepherding. School children in the community study in schools in the al-’Eizariyah area.

Finally, at around 10:30, the forces arrived at the al-Ka'abneh community in the Nakhila area of al-Quds District, northeast of the town of ‘Anata. The forces demolished a shack that housed a family of nine, including four children. The structure was donated by the European Union. From the forces continued to al-Fuqarah community where they demolished a plaster-walled tin-roofed structure used to store grain donated by the European Union.

The community of al-Ka'abneh is home to some 100 residents who make their living primarily from shepherding. School children in the community study in schools in the ‘Anata area. The community of al-Fuqarah is home to some 40 residents.

Today, Thursday, 5 Dec. 2020, at around 8:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with Border Police officers, and a bulldozer to the community of Maghayir al-’Abid in the Msafar Yatta area in the South Hebron Hills. The forces demolished three cinder-block residential structures with tin roofs where three families numbering a total of 12 members, including five children, had lived. The structures were donated by the European Union.

On Tuesday, 3 December 2019, at around 7:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a digger, a bulldozer and a military-jeep escort to the Palestinian community of Khirbet ‘Einun, east of the city of Tubas in the northern Jordan Valley. The forces demolished two concrete and metal water cisterns built some two months ago for farming needs. One was owned by a resident of Tubas and the other by the Tubas agricultural association.
The demolition was carried out pursuant to Military Order 1797, which was issued in April 2018, and eliminated the façade of judicial review

On Thursday 21 November, at around 1:00 P.M. Civil Administration personnel came to Khirbet Khilet a-Dabe’, in Masfar Yatta, South Hebron Hills, with a Border Police escort and a bulldozer. The forces demolished a concrete, tin-roofed residential structure that housed a family of 12, including 9 children. The demolition was carried out pursuant to Military Order 1797, which was issued in April 2018 and canceled the façade of judicial review.

On Monday, 11 Nov. 2019, at around 6:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with dozens of Border Police officers and a crane truck at the community of al-Muntar, which is located in al-Quds District, southeast of the town al-'Eizariyah. The forces dismantled and two shacks used as residences by two families numbering a total of seven members, including three children, and a water container that belongs to one of the families.

The community is home to some 350 people who subsist mostly on raising livestock. About 40 of the children attend elementary school in the community, and the others attend various schools in the area of al-'Eizariyah and Abu Dis.

At around 8:00 A.M. that morning, the force arrived at two communities that live in the area Israel defines E1: the Abu a-Nuwar community southeast of al-'Eizariyah, where they dismantled and confiscated a shack that a resident used as a livestock pen, and the Wadi Jmeil community, where they demolished a residence made of plaster boards that was home to a family of two. The second community numbers about 30 people and its children attend school in nearby al-'Eizariyah.