Facing Expulsion

Once again, on three days this week – Sunday, Monday and today (Wednesday, 29 May 2019) – Israeli Civil Administration personnel came with a military jeep escort to the Palestinian community of Khirbet Humsah in the northern Jordan Valley. They ordered fifteen families to vacate their homes in accordance with the orders they had been served on 8 May 2019. This is the third week in a row of the temporary displacements, which continue despite the oppressive heat, with temperatures ranging from a high of 36 degrees centigrade (96.8 °F) on Sunday to 42 degrees (107.6 °F) today, and despite the fast of Ramadan. This morning, the troops arrived at Khirbet Humsah at about 5:30 A.M., an hour and a half before the time mandated in the order and compelled the families to vacate their homes, even though they had not yet completed their preparations. The military informed the families that they may return home today at 11:00 A.M., instead of at 2:00 P.M., as written the order.

As a result of the military’s training in the area, a fire started on Monday on lands owned by Tubas residents, east of the region of Khirbet Samrah. The blaze destroyed hundreds of dunams [1 dunam = 1,000 square meters] of pastureland.

This week, on Sunday, Monday and today, Wednesday, 22 May 2019, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military jeep to Khirbet Humsah in the northern Jordan Valley and ordered 15 families to vacate their homes, in keeping with the orders they were given on 8 May 2019. The forcible displacement proceeded despite the extreme heat in the area, with temperatures today reaching 42 degrees Celsius, and despite the Ramadan fast. Some of the families used tractors and trailers to leave, others left on foot. In addition, Civil Administration personnel also arrived at around 6:30 A.M. at nearby Khirbet a-Ras al-Ahmar, where they confiscated a truck owned by a resident of Tammun, on the claim that he was in a closed military zone. The Civil Administration officials told the truck owner to drive to the Saura military base and leave the truck there.

At around 10:00 o’clock this morning (Thursday, 16 May 2019), Israeli Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort to the Palestinian community of Khirbet Susiya in the South Hebron Hills. They brought a bulldozer with them. For the fourth time, they dismantled and confiscated a tent that served as a sheep pen. The seasonal home of the family that owns the pen has been demolished four times over the last month.

At around 7:00 o’clock this morning (Wednesday, 15 May 2019) Israeli Civil Administration personnel, accompanied by a military jeep escort, came for the third time this week to the Palestinian community of Khirbet Humsah (al-Foqa) in the northern Jordan Valley. Once again, they ordered fifteen families to temporarily evacuate their homes, this time from 7:00 A.M. until 2:00 P.M. The families complied, some leaving by tractor-towed carts and other vehicles, others on foot.

Yesterday (Tuesday, 14 May 2019), two fires broke out on nearby pastureland – one in the morning and one in the evening – as a result of the military training there. The blazes destroyed dozens of dunams [1 dunam = 1 square kilometer] of pastureland that the community uses for grazing its livestock.

Since the beginning of May, four other fires have already erupted as a result of the nearly daily military training in the area. These blazes have destroyed hundreds of dunams of pastureland and dozens of dunams of cultivated farmland.

On the morning of Tuesday, 7 May 2019, Israeli Civil Administration personnel and soldiers arrived at the Palestinian community of Khirbet Humsah (al-Foqa) in the northern Jordan Valley. They served temporary evacuation orders to fifteen of the community’s families, totaling 98 persons, including 56 children. The families received orders to evacuate their homes on 12 separate occasions in May and June. Military training near their homes was cited as pretext. As of 12 May 2019, in the midst of the Muslim month of Ramadan, the families were ordered to vacate their homes every Sunday from 2:00 P.M. until 10:00 A.M. the next morning (Monday); then again from 4:00 P.M. on Monday, until the next morning (Tuesday); and finally, to vacate their homes on Wednesdays from 7:00 A.M. until 2:00 P.M. Some of the families have nowhere else to stay, and will be forced to spend the night out in the open. Most of the families have already undergone temporary displacement last year, including some families who were forced to leave during the month of Ramadan.

Yesterday (Sunday, 12 May 2019), at around 2 P.M., CA personnel came with a military jeep as escort to Khirbet Humsah and ordered the fifteen families to leave their homes from 2:00 P.M. until 10:00 A.M. the next morning. The families left, some by tractor-towed carts and some on foot. The troops detained for five hours journalists and a field researcher of the al-Haq NGO who were documenting the evacuation. They were detained on the grounds of supposedly being in a closed military zone. The next evacuation is slated for today, Monday, to being at 4:00 P.M. this afternoon.

At about 10:00 A.M. this morning, Thursday 2 May 2019, Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort to the Palestinian community of Khirbet Susiya in the South Hebron Hills. They brought two bulldozers with them. For the fourth time in just over two weeks, the troops dismantled and confiscated a tent that served as the seasonal home of a family of three. From Khirbet Susiya the troops then went to the community of Khirbet Um al-Kheir where they demolished a shed that served as a sheep pen. 

Yesterday, Wednesday,1 May 2019, in Khirbet Susiya, the very same family's tent was confiscated and dismantled for the third time by the Civil Administration personnel who came to the community with a military and Border Police escort. The troops also dismantled and confiscated a tent that served as a sheep pen for the family’s flock. A little later, at around 11:00 A.M., the CA personnel and their escort, taking along a digger and a bulldozer, continued north to the community of Khirbet a-Deirat. There, the troops demolished a structure built of concrete that served as the home of a family of seven, five of them children.

On Tuesday, 16 April 2019, at about 10:00 A.M., Civil Administration officials accompanied by soldiers and Border Police officers, and equipped with a bulldozer, arrived at Khirbet Susiya in the South Hebron Hills. The forces dismantled and confiscated a tent erected around two weeks earlier that served as a seasonal home for a family of three. In the afternoon of the same day, the family erected a new tent and an additional tent serving as a pen for their flock.

Yesterday, Wednesday, 17 April 2019, at about 11:00 A.M., Civil Service officials returned to the site, again accompanied by soldiers and Border Police officers. They saw the two new tents, but left without demolishing them. Today, Thursday, 18 April 2019, at about 9:30 A.M., the forces returned with equipment, including two trucks and bulldozer. The forces confiscated both the new tents.

At around 9:00 A.M. yesterday, 20 March 2019, Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort and two bulldozers to the Palestinian community of Khirbet a-Tuba in the area of Masafer Yatta, which lies in the South Hebron Hills. The force demolished a tin-roofed concrete house that was home to a family of six, one of them a child. It also confiscated a water tank, three solar panels and related equipment from the same family. The force then continued south to the Palestinian community of Maghayir al-'Abid, where it demolished a livestock pen at around 11:00 A.M., and further south to Khirbet al-Halawah, demolishing a house built of blocks and wooden panels that was home to a family of three, including a child, and also a mosque made of mud and stones.

This morning, Tuesday, 13 March 2019, at around 10:00 A.M., Civil Administration officials came with a military jeep escort to Khirbet a-Ras al-Ahmar in the northern Jordan Valley. The force served the community with stop-work orders for tents and shacks that are home to five families - numbering 19 people, 10 of them children - and for about 20 livestock pens. They also confiscated a tractor from a Tubas farmer who cultivates land within the confines of the community, on the grounds that he had entered a closed military zone.