Facing Expulsion

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 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.

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 evening, 22 September 2020, Civil Administration personnel came with a military jeep escort to the village of Zif, northeast of the town of Yatta in Hebron District, and confiscated two trucks, a bulldozer and a digger. The next day, Wednesday, 23 September 2020, at around 9:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military jeep escort, Border Police officers, two bulldozers and two diggers at Khalet Taha area in the town of Deir Samit, Hebron District, where three families live. The forces dismantled and confiscated a tent used by the three families to guard against settlers entering their land. In addition, the forces demolished a large water reservoir, a well under construction, and a power grid that stretched over 600 meters. They also razed land intended for building another water reservoir and a cattle pen. The demolitions were carried out by power of Military Order 1797, following demolition orders issued to residents on 14 September 2020. 

On Monday morning, 21 September 2020, at around 9:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military jeep escort to the Palestinian community of Khirbet Yarza in the northern Jordan Valley. The force handed two families, numbering 10 people in total, including six minors, demolition orders for their homes: two structures made of concrete, stone and tin. The demolition orders were issued by power of military order 1797. On 9 September 2020, the forces delivered one of the families a warning order to stop destroying antiquities.

Later that Monday, at around 4:00 P.M., Civil Administration personnel returned to Khirbet Yarza and confiscated a water container being used to fix the community’s access road. The following evening, 15 September 2020, Civil Administration personnel came with an escort of military jeeps, police officers and Israel Nature and Parks Authority  staff to the community of Khirbet Ibzik in the northern Jordan Valley. They surrounded a plot owned by a resident of Tubas, confiscated his car and a digger owned by a resident of Meithalun, and ordered the two owners to drive the confiscated vehicles to the Tayasir military base. The force also delivered a warning order to stop destroying antiquities to a resident of al-‘Aqabah who cultivates land in Ibzik, and forced him to dismantle a tent he had set up for agricultural uses.

On 10 Sept 2020, four days after the beginning of the school year, in the early morning hours before students arrived, Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort and a crane truck to the Palestinian community of Ras al-Tin, east of Ramallah. The forces confiscated tin panels from the school’s roof, 30 chairs and 12 classroom tables.

The students were forced to study under the scorching sun as they sat on the ground.

Just a week ago, on 3 September 2020, the Civil Administration confiscated ten tin panels, four cinder block pallets, 30 classroom chairs and 12 tables. On 31 August 2020, they confiscated building materials intended for further construction of the school.

On 2 Sept 2020, around 8:30 A.M., Civil Administration officials came with a Border Police escort, a bulldozer and a digger to the area of Wadi al-A'war by the community of Birin, which lies northeast of the town of Yatta. The forces demolished a room belonging to a resident of Hebron that farmers from the community use.


The forces continued south to the village of Zif, where they confiscated a gas pump and a canopy tent.

From there, they went south to Khirbet Jenbah, a community in Masafer Yatta included within 'Firing Zone 918' in the South Hebron Hills. They demolished two homes used by two families in the community – 12 people, eight of them children – and a livestock pen. The forces also destroyed four solar panels and electrical equipment, leaving the family with no power source.

On Monday morning, 31 August 2020, at around 7:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military jeep escort and a crane truck at the Palestinian community of Ras a-Tin, which lies to the east of the village of Kafr Malek,  east of Ramallah. The forces confiscated two cinderblock pallets and other materials donated by a humanitarian aid organization to build a local school. The school was meant to serve 50 children from the community and others from the neighboring community of Khirbet ‘Ein al-Rashash.

The community of 280 – made up of 35 families, including 140 minors – is not hooked up to a water network or power grids. Only 12 families have electricity, thanks to solar panels they either purchased or received from Palestinian aid organizations. Residents buy water in containers from nearby villages. About 50 of the children study in the village of al-Mughayir and have to travel one to three kilometers on dirt paths, on ATVs or animals, to get there.

On Tuesday, 25 August 2020, at around 4:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with an escort of Border Police, soldiers, a crane truck and a digger to the Palestinian community of Wadi a-Siq, east of Ramallah. The forces dismantled and confiscated two tents that were home to a family of ten, including a child, and demolished a shack that was home to a family of 13, eight of them minors. They also dismantled and confiscated a livestock pen and the fences around it, four shacks used as livestock enclosures, two solar panels and two water containers. The structures belonged to the two families whose homes were demolished and to two other families.

At around 8:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with military jeeps and a crane truck to the area of al-Musafah, east of al-Jiftlik in the Jordan Valley. The forces confiscated a fuel tank and a pump belonging to a resident of Jerusalem.  

At around 11:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with military jeeps and a crane truck to the area of Ras 'Ein al-‘Auja in Jericho District. The forces dismantled and confiscated a shack made of tin and metal that was being built to house a family of ten, eight of them minors.

At around 1:00 P.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a bulldozer and military jeeps to the area of Fasayil al-Wusta in the northern Jordan Valley. There, they demolished two tents that were home to two families numbering seven people in total, two of them minors. They also demolished two shacks belonging to the families, which served as livestock pens, as well as two tents used as kitchens, one tent used as a toilet and two storage tents.

On Tuesday, 11 August 2020, at around 7:00 A.M, Civil Administration personnel came with an escort of Border Police jeeps, a crane truck and a digger to Khirbet Susiya in the South Hebron Hills. The forces demolished a tent used for agricultural purposes owned by a resident and confiscated a small cement mixer and a cart intended for building a structure. The forces then continued to the area of Masafer Yatta, where they first went to Khirbet al-Mufaqarah. Upon the forces' arrival, the residents dismantled the tent they had erected a week earlier. From there, the forces continued to the community of Maghayir al-‘Abid, where they demolished a tent that served as a livestock pen. Then, they continued south to Khirbet al-Fakhit and demolished a residential tent, leaving seven people, three of them minors, homeless. The tent was donated by the EU after the CA had demolished the same family’s tent two months earlier.

On Thursday, 6 August 2020, at around 6:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a Border Police escort and a bulldozer to Khirbet Wadi Ejheish, south of Khirbet Susiya in the South Hebron Hills. The forces demolished a family's home, leaving 10 people, including 8 minors, homeless.