Facing Expulsion

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.

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.

Yesterday, 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.

On Wednesday, 6 November 2019, at around 10:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with soldiers, Border Police officers and a crane truck to Khirbet Khilet a-Dabe’ in the Msafar Yatta area in the South Hebron Hills. The forces dismantled and confiscated three tents used as residences by three families numbering a total of 21 members, including 11 children. The three tents were donated by the ICRC after the Civil Administration demolished the homes of two of the families on 11 September 2019, leaving nine people, including five children, homeless. At around 12:30 they continued northeast, to the Maghayir al-'Abid community in Masafer Yatta and demolished a tent that served as a livestock pen.

On Wednesday, 11 September 2019, at around 8:00 A.M., Israeli Civil Administration personnel arrived with soldiers, Border Police officers, a bulldozer and three diggers at the Masafer Yatta area in the South Hebron Hills. In Khirbet al-Mufaqarah, the forces demolished three pre-fabricated buildings and a tent that had housed four families, 18 people in all, including eight children. The forces also confiscated a car belonging to the Masafer Yatta Council, claiming it had entered a firing zone. From there the forces proceeded to Khirbet Sarurah where they demolished a utility structure owned by a family from Yatta who farm land in the region. They then continued southwards, to Khirbet Khilet a-Dabe’, where they demolished two cinder block and concrete structures used as housing for two families with a total of nine members, including five children. The forces also demolished a water cistern belonging to one of the families.

Some of the forces also went to the community of She’b al-Batem and, for the fifth time this year, dug deep trenches and placed boulders to block access from Route 317 to two roads that serve the community’s residents to get to the town of Yatta. In addition, the forces used trenches and boulders in several locations to block off a dirt road leading from Route 317 to the communities a-Tuwani, Kh. a-Rakeez, Kh. al-Mufaqarah, Kh. Sarurah, Kh. Khilet a-Dabe’, Kh. al-Fakhit and Kh. a-Taban, impacting other communities as well. Demolitions and restrictions of movement are part of a series of abusive measures the authorities have been taking against local residents, in a bid to expel them from the area and their homes.

This morning, Tuesday 30 July 2019, at around 6:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived at Khirbet a-Ras al-Ahmar in the northern Jordan Valley with a military escort, a bulldozer, and a truck with a crane. The forces dismantled and confiscated for the second time three tents that were used as a home for a family of nine, including four children. One of the tents was donated by the Red Cross after another tent was demolished. The forces also confiscated a solar panel belonging to the same family. The forces dismantled and confiscated three tents used by another resident as livestock pens; these tents were also donated by a humanitarian organization after the previous demolition. Two feeding troughs were also confiscated.
Later, at around 1:00 P.M., Civil Administration personnel accompanied by a bulldozer arrived at Khirbet Wadi al-Faw, to the south of Khirbet ‘Ein al-Hilweh in the northern Jordan Valley. The forces demolished a tent used for seasonal residency by a family of eight, including three children, as well as a livestock pen owned by the family.

In a separate incident yesterday, Monday 29 July 2019, at around 1:00 P.M. soldiers accompanied by police officers and officials from the Mekorot water company, equipped with a tow-truck, arrived in the village of Bardala in the northern Jordan Valley. The forces confiscated a truck fitted with excavation equipment after several residents of the village attempted to dig a water cistern on their farmland.

Today (Sunday, 28 July 2019), at around 9:00 A.M., Israeli soldiers came to the South Hebron Hills, bringing a bulldozer. They heaped piled up boulders and sandpiles to block access from Route 317 onto two roads that lead to the town of Yata and serve the community of She’b al-Batem. In March this year, the Israeli forces blocked the access roads to the community, but the residents later reopened the routes. The closure doubles journey times from the community to the regional center Yata. The forces also used boulders to block the turning from Route 317 onto a road leading to the southern entrance to the village of a-Samu’a, thereby blocking the access between the communities of Khirbet a-Rafat and Khirbet Wadi al-‘Amayer, to the north of the road, and Khirbet al-Kharabah and Khirbet Ghuwein al-Fauqa, to the south.