Demolitions and confiscations in communities facing expulsion

Today, Tuesday, 9 October 2018, at around 10:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel, soldiers, Border Police and two bulldozers arrived at Khirbet al-Halawah in the Masafer Yatta area in the South Hebron Hills. The forces demolished three dwellings, donated to local residents by a humanitarian aid organization with European Union funding. The demolition left 21 people, including 13 children, homeless. The forces also confiscated four solar panel batteries and an electrical box donated to the residents by COMET ME, with funding from the Dutch government. Earlier this month, the Civil Administration and military confiscated a tent in the community, leaving homeless a family of six, including four minors. Ever since the 1990s, Israel has been endeavoring to drive out the residents of Masafer Yatta.

Yesterday, 2 October 2018, at around 3:30 P.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a Border Police escort and a crane truck to Khirbet al-Halawa in the area of Masafer Yatta, the South Hebron Hills. There, they confiscated a tent that was home to a family of six, four of them minors. The tent had been donated by an aid organization. Today, 3 October, at around 10:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel with a police, military and Border Police escort and a crane truck came to Khirbet al-Mufaqara, also in Masafer Yatta. They confiscated a metal frame that was to be the base for a pre-fab. Since the 1990s, Israel has been systematically attempting to drive the Palestinian residents of Masafer Yatta from their home

On Tuesday, 4 September 2018, at about 7:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel and laborers, accompanied by soldiers, arrived in Humsah a-Tahta in the northern Jordan Valley. They dismantled and confiscated a caravan belonging to the Bisharat family – the parents Khadijeh and Mahmoud and their three daughters. The caravan was donated to the family by the European Union after the Civil Administration demolished the family’s home in 2015. In 2017, the family was given a demolition order against the caravan, and fearing that it would be destroyed, they took it down it and moved in with Mahmoud’s parents. In August 2018, the family put up the caravan again with the help of volunteers.

At about 5:00 A.M. this morning, Thursday, 13 September 2018, six Civil Administration vehicles escorted by dozens of security personnel arrived with a bulldozer and a crane at Wadi al-Ahmar, a new neighborhood established by the residents of Khan al-Ahmar and hundreds of activists two days ago. The neighborhood, which lies several hundred meters east of the community in the direction of the Kfar Adumim settlement, was set up to protest the High Court ruling of 5 September allowing the state to demolish the community. The forces dismantled and confiscated five pre-fabs provided to the residents by the Palestinian Authority.

On Sunday, 3 September 2018, Civil Administration officials accompanied by a military jeep arrived at Khirbet Um al-Jamal and the al-Burj area in the northern Jordan Valley. The forces issued temporary evacuation orders to seven families, totaling 39 members (including 25 minors), instructing them to leave their homes from 5:00 P.M. the next day, 4 September 2018, until 10:30 A.M. the following morning, 5 September 2018. The families evacuated their homes the next day, some of them staying with relatives in Tayasir and others in the adjacent community of Khirbet ‘Ein al-Hilweh. Some of the families led their flocks to the area around Khirbet al-Maleh. When the families returned to their homes the next day, they found that two cows had been killed in the military operations. The cows belonged to shepherds from Khirbet ‘Ein al-Hilweh, who regularly graze their livestsock in the area. Other cows were injured.

On 19 August 2018, Civil Administration personnel handed Yusef Abu ‘Aram, from Qawawis, a stop-work order for a home where his family of eight were set to live. Yesterday, 3 September 2018, at about 4:00 A.M., Civil Administration, military and Border Police personnel arrived with a bulldozer and demolished the home which was still under construction. At around 10:30 this morning, 4 September 2018, Civil Administration personnel arrived again and confiscated a tent given to the family by the village council for temporary shelter following the demolition. The Palestinian village of Qawawis is located in an area from which Israel has been trying to expel local residents ever since the 1990s.

At ~4:00 P.M. yesterday (14 Aug. 2018), Civil Administration personnel, accompanied by a military jeep, came to Khirbet Yarza in the northern Jordan Valley and ordered a Palestinian family to leave home by 6:00 A.M. the next morning. This is the third time the family has been ordered to leave this month, after receiving temporary orders on 1 August ordering evacuation on three dates. The family moved to relatives in the village of Tubas. Three families from Tubas, which cultivate land in Khirbet Yarza, were also evacuated from the area.

At about 4:00 P.M. on Thursday, 9 August 2018, Civil Administration personnel, accompanied by a military jeep, came to Khirbet Yarza in the northern Jordan Valley and ordered a Palestinian family to leave its home by 6:00 A.M. the next morning. This is the second time that the Civil Administration has ordered the family to leave its home, after it delivered temporary orders on 1 August 2018 ordering the family to evacuate its home on three dates. Using a tractor and a private car, the family moved to a house belonging to their relatives in the village of Tubas, approximately five kilometers northwest of Khirbet Yarza. Three families from Tubas, which own farmland in Khirbet Yarza, were also evacuated from the area. After the families left the area, a Civil Administration officer ordered B'Tselem field researcher ‘Aref Dagharmeh and a crew from Palestine Television, who were documenting the evacuation, to come to Tayaseer checkpoint, where soldiers detained them all for about three hours.

Yesterday, 6 August 2018, at about 4:00 P.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military-jeep escort at Khirbet Yarza, in the northern Jordan Valley, and ordered a Palestinian family to leave its home by 6:00 A.M. the next morning. The Civil Administration handed the family temporary evacuation orders on Wednesday, 1 August 2018 ordering them to leave their home on three different dates. Using a tractor and a private car, the family moved to a house belonging to their relatives in the neighboring village of Tubas. Later yesterday night, tanks and armored vehicles held exercises close to the family’s home and fired mortars. Three other families from Tubas, which own farmland in Khirbet Yarza, managed to irrigate their fields and feed their livestock before the Civil Administration personnel arrived.

At 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 1 August 2018, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military-jeep escort at Khirbet Yarza, in the northern Jordan Valley, and handed temporary evacuation orders to a family of eight that includes three children. According to the orders, the family is forbidden to be at home from 4:00 P.M to 6:00 P.M. the next morning on the following dates: 6-7, 9-10 and 14-15 August. The orders will also prevent three families from Tubas, which own farmland in Khirbet Yarza, from working their fields and tending to their flocks on the above dates.