Demolitions and confiscations in communities facing expulsion

On Tuesday, 10 January 2023, at around 5:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military escort and two bulldozers to the village of al-’Auja, which lies near Route 90 in the southern Jordan Valley, and demolished four storerooms under construction by power of Military Order No. 1797.

The forces then continued to the village of ‘Ein a-Duyuk a-Tahya west of Jericho, where they demolished a vacation home, a swimming pool and water tanks belonging to a family from East Jerusalem.

On Thursday, 5 Jan. 2023, at around 4:00 P.M., soldiers arrived with a tow truck at the village of Khirbet M’ain, southeast of the town of Yatta in the Hebron District, and confiscated a tractor that was being used for plowing on the grounds the work was being carried out in an archaeological site.

On Tuesday, 3 Jan. 2023, at around 10:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort and two crawler diggers to the village of Khirbet Ma’in, which lies southeast of the town of Yatta in the Hebron District. The forces demolished a home under construction intended for a family of six, four of them minors, and a completed water hole already in use under it. As they withdrew, the forces hurled a stun grenade at young men who gathered by the demolished home. When they reached the village center, young men threw stones at them, and the forces fired at least six tear gas canisters at the men.

The forces then went to the village of She’b al-Battem in the South Hebron Hills, where they demolished the homes of four families and an outhouse, leaving 36 people, 12 of them minors, homeless. They also destroyed four water tanks with a metal base belonging to the four families, and six smaller water tanks belonging to two of them.

Some of the forces then went on in a jeep to the community of Khirbet a-Safai al-Foqa, which lies in Masafer Yatta within the area the military designated “Firing Zone 918”, and confiscated a folded tent. The tent, which teachers put up and took down daily to use as a classroom, was donated by the Red Crescent after Israel demolished the community school on 23 Nov. 2022 and confiscated tents donated to serve as classrooms on 6 Dec. 2022.

On Monday, 2 Jan. 2023, at around 4:00 P.M., soldiers arrived at farmland that lies just south of a-Tuwani, adjacent to the village, and confiscated a digger farmers used to plant olive trees.

On Monday, 2 January 2023, at around 10:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort to a farm located south of the village of al-‘Auja. The forces used a digger that belongs to the farm to demolish a shed used for resting by farmers and confiscated the items that were inside it. They then used their own vehicles to drive over a garlic field, confiscated a generator, removed a Palestinian flag on display at the farm and arrested the owner, who was taken to the Binyamin police station, and from there to the detention facility at the Russian Compound in Jerusalem. He was released on 4 January 2023, after posting bail in the sum of 1,500 NIS.

On Sunday, 1 January 2023, soldiers arrived in a military jeep at Khirbet Humsah a-Tahta in the northern Jordan Valley and confiscated two tractors belonging to two residents of Tubas who were plowing land in the area. The soldiers detained the farmers on the site, with their tractors, for about three hours.

On Tuesday, 27 Dec. 2022, at around 5:00 P.M., soldiers arrived in a military vehicle at a spot near the community of Khirbet Um al-Jamal, in the area of Hamamat al-Maleh in the northern Jordan Valley, and confiscated two tractors with towed water tankers. According to the soldiers, the drivers had filled up the tankers by illegally hooking up to Mekorot pipelines. The soldiers ordered the drivers to take the tractors into the settlement of Maskiyyot, and after they did so, arrested them. Meanwhile, more soldiers arrived, as well as police officers. They searched for the illegal connections and confiscated a private car, claiming it was in a closed military zone. The tractor drivers were released the next day, after posting NIS 2,000 (USD 566) each in bail.

On Tuesday, 20 Dec. 2022, at around 9:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort, a bulldozer and a digger to the community of Khirbet Wadi Ejheish in the South Hebron Hills. The forces demolished six tents that were the seasonal homes of five families numbering 24 people in total, 11 of them minors. The tents were donated to the families by the Red Crescent and the Palestinian Authority's National Commission against the Wall and the Settlements after the Civil Administration demolished their old tents on 25 Oct. 2022.

About two hours later, the forces arrived at Khirbet Ma’in, which lies southeast of the town of Yatta in Hebron District, and demolished an unused farming structure. From there, they continued to Khirbet Khallet a-Dabe’ in Masafer Yatta, the South Hebron Hills, where they confiscated a tent used by human rights activists, and then to the nearby village of a-Tuwani, where they demolished a chicken coop that provided a living for a family of eight, three of them minors.

On Monday, 19 December 2022, at around 9:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military and Border Police escort and two bulldozers at the al-Matar area in eastern Jericho. The forces demolished a vacation home with two swimming pools owned by a family from East Jerusalem and uprooted decorative trees planted around it, and another vacation home, under construction, owned by a family from Jericho.

On Saturday, 17 December 2022, at around 8:00 A.M., a settler arrived in a vehicle belonging to the Jordan Valley settlement regional council to an agricultural area located about 100 meters south of the community of Kh. ‘Ein al-Hilweh in the northern Jordan Valley and ordered Palestinian farmers who were plowing to stop working. The settler called the Israeli authorities and soldiers, Border Police and Israel Police officers arrived in three vehicles. They announced the tractor would be confiscated and detained its owner for about three hours. The sons of the tractor owner arrived and one of them insisted on driving the tractor to wherever the forces told him to take it. A Border Police officer initially tried to handcuff him, but eventually, the forces told the son to drive the tractor to the settlement of Mehola and leave it there.

On Monday, 13 Dec. 2022, at around 6:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military and Border Police escort, four bulldozers and two diggers at the village of al-Jiftlik in the central Jordan Valley. The forces demolished the home of a family of 12, incl. 4 minors, leaving them homeless, and a two-story building under construction that had 2 apartments and belonged to the same family. They then demolished the home of a family of 7, incl. 3 minors, and a structure under construction belonging to another resident.


The forces also demolished 5 shacks, 2 tents and 2 livestock pens, and vandalized feeding troughs in a farm that provides the livelihood of 2 families numbering 14 people in total.

On Monday, 12 December 2022, at around 1:00 P.M., soldiers arrived in a military vehicle in the area of a-Tabayek, north of the village of Bardalah in the northern Jordan Valley. The soldiers ordered farmers who were busy plowing to stop working, claiming it was a closed military zone. The soldiers confiscated two tractors and towed them to the Bet Shean checkpoint.