Facing Expulsion

Today, Wednesday, 28 October 2020, at around 10:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military jeep and a digger to the Masafer Yatta region of the South Hebron Hills. The forces dug up and destroyed a 1.5 kilometer stretch of piping, thereby cutting off the water supply to the communities of Maghayir al-‘Abid and Khirbet al-Majaz. The forces later continued to the area of Khirbet al-Fakhit, where they unearthed a water pipe but left without destroying it.

Today, Tuesday morning, 27 October 2020, Civil Administration personnel came with a Border Police escort and a bulldozer to the Palestinian community of Birin, northeast of the town of Yatta in Hebron District. The forces demolished a stone house that was home to a family of five, including three children. The demolition was carried out by power of Military Order 1797. The forces also demolished a cistern belonging to the family.

On Wednesday morning, 21 October 2020, Civil Administration personnel came with a military jeep and a crane truck to the community of Tal a-Smadi, which lies northwest of the village of al-Jiftlik in the Jordan Valley. The forces dismantled and confiscated an outhouse, a plastic water container and a shack that was home to a couple. All three structures were donated to the couple by a humanitarian aid organization after the Civil Administration demolished their home on 30 September 2020.

On Monday morning, 19 October 2020, at around 10:00 A.M., soldiers came with a bulldozer to the community of Khallet Khader in the area of al-Farisiyah in the northern Jordan Valley. The forces demolished a tin-roofed cinderblock structure that was home to a family of three, including one child. The Civil Administration had delivered the family a demolition order by power of Military Order 1797 on 13 October. The forces also confiscated a generator and a private car from the family, and demolished a water reservoir used for the community’s livestock.

Khallet Khader lies in the area of al-Farisiyah, which the Israeli military designated a firing zone, near the settlements of Shadmot Mehola and Rotem. The residents make a living as shepherds and farmers, and most live in there in certain seasons only.

On Thursday, 15 October 2020, at around 2:00 P.M., soldiers and police officers came to the community of Khirbet Tal al-Himma in the Jordan Valley. The forces confiscated a bulldozer and a truck owned by a contractor from Nablus, which were being used to carry out work for one of the community’s families, without delivering a confiscation order. The forces ordered the drivers to drive the vehicles to the adjacent settlement of Mehola.

This morning, 19 October 2020, at around 7:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a Border Police escort, a bulldozer and a digger to the community of Khirbet a-Rakeez in the Masafer Yatta area of the South Hebron Hills. The forces confiscated a tent that housed a family of five, including three children. The tent was donated to the family by the a-Tuwani village council after Israel demolished their home on 30 September 2020.

From there, the forces continued south to the community of Khirbet al-Fakhit and demolished a tin-roofed cinderblock structure that housed a family of four, including one child. The home was built with international humanitarian aid. Before the forces left, they destroyed a livestock pen and a storage tent owned by the same family.

The forces continued to an area located between Khirbet Khilet a-Dabe’ and Khirbet al-Mufaqarah, where they cut a 2.5-kilometer stretch of piping used to supply water to Masafer Yatta communities.

On Monday, 5 October 2020, at around 3:00 P.M., soldiers came to the village of Furush Beit Dajan in the Jordan Valley and confiscated a bulldozer belonging to a resident of al-Jiftlik, which was used for digging a pool on a village resident’s plot, without delivering the owner a confiscation order. The forces ordered the driver to drive the bulldozer to the al-Hamra Checkpoint, where it was towed away to an unknown destination.

On Thursday, 8 October 2020, at around 2:00 P.M., soldiers and police officers came to the village of ‘Ein al-Beida in the Jordan Valley and confiscated a grader owned by a contracting company from al-Far’ah used for leveling and repaving agricultural roads. The forces ordered the driver to drive the grader to the Brosh Habik’a military camp, again without delivering the owner a confiscation order.

On Wednesday morning, 30 September 2020, at around 9:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a Border Police escort, a bulldozer and a digger to the community of She’b al-Batem in the Masafer Yatta area of the South Hebron Hills. The forces demolished two tin-roofed cinder block structures that were home to two families, 14 people in total. The demolition left 10 children, one of them with a physical disability, homeless.

The forces continued north to the community of Khirbet a-Rakeez, where they demolished four tin-roofed cinder block structures that were home to four families numbering 17 people in total, including 10 minors and a woman with special needs. The homes demolished in both communities were built with funding from the West Bank Protection Consortium.

On Wednesday morning, 30 September 2020, at around 8:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military jeep escort and a digger to the community of Tal a-Smadi, northwest of the village of al-Jiftlik in the Jordan Valley. The forces demolished a shack that was home to a husband and wife, after the Civil Administration had delivered the couple a demolition order by power of Military Order 1797 on 22 September 2020.

Later that morning, at around 11:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military jeep escort and a crane truck to the area of Fasayil al-Wusta in the northern Jordan Valley. The forces destroyed the sheeting and frames of four tents – three of them partially erected and one not yet. The tents were meant to house two families, numbering seven people in total, including two children. The forces confiscated a tent intended for storage, and also confiscated equipment for building a livestock enclosure and fences from one of the families.

The materials for the tents and the shack were donated to the families by humanitarian aid organizations after the Civil Administration demolished their homes on 25 August 2020.

Today, Tuesday, September 29, 2020, at around 4:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military jeep escort, a bulldozer and a crane truck to the Palestinian community of Khirbet Jib’it in Ramallah District. The forces demolished two cisterns and confiscated two water containers belonging to an extended family from the community. .

Later this morning, at around 9:00, Civil Administration personnel came with a military jeep escort and two bulldozers to Khirbet Yarza in the northern Jordan Valley and demolished the homes of two families, numbering 10 people in total, including six minors. Last week, on 21 September 2020, the Civil Administration delivered the families demolition orders by power of Military Order 1797. Ahead of the demolition, the families took their belongings out of their homes and dismantled their roofs. The forces also delivered one of the families a demolition order for a tent used for storage, and confiscated the vehicles of a Palestinian TV crew documenting the demolition.

Last Sunday, 27 September 2020, at around 12:00 P.M., soldiers arrived at Khirbet ‘Atuf in the northern Jordan valley and confiscated a van and portable welding machine owned by a resident of al-Far’ah, which laborers were using to upgrade the community’s water network on behalf of the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC). The forces detained the laborers and drove them to the Sa’ura military camp, where they were held for several hours and released.

On Thursday, 24 September 2020, at around 9:00 A.M., a resident of Nab’ al-Ghazal , a community in the al-Farisiyah area, found an expropriation order and maps lying on a rock at the entrance to the community, apparently placed there by Civil Administration officials. According to the order, 1,600 square meters of land within the community that belong to a resident of Tubas will be expropriated due to the expansion of Israeli water facilities nearby. These facilities provide water only to settlers and the military, and not to Palestinian residents of the area.

On Tuesday, 29 September 2020, at around 11:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived at the community of Khirbet ‘Atuf in the northern Jordan Valley and confiscated a car from a resident of al-‘Aqqabah, a village in Tubas District, on the grounds that he was in a “closed military zone”. They ordered the owner to drive the car to the Sa’ura military camp.

The same day, at around 9:30 P.M., troops entered the community of al-‘Aqabah in the northern Jordan Valley – 30 soldiers on foot and others in two military vehicles. The soldiers trained within the village until midnight, some moving among the houses and others firing tank shells in the vicinity. In 1999, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel petitioned the High Court of Justice on behalf of the residents against repeated military training within the village, which caused injury to several residents. Following the petition, the military established procedures restricting training in the area of the village, without prohibiting it altogether. The procedures forbid training with live fire in the area and movement among the village homes. In practice, they have been violated several times over the years – and again this week.