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December 2021: Israel confiscates 10 tractors used by Palestinian farmers for plowing in Jordan Valley and South Hebron Hills

On Wednesday, 1 December 2021, the Civil Administration confiscated six tractors, four water containers, and five private vehicles in the Khirbet Ras al-Ahmar area in the northern Jordan Valley.
On Sunday, 5 December 2021, on the first day of military training in the northern Jordan Valley, the Civil Administration confiscated a tractor used by a resident of ‘Aqaba to perform agricultural work in the area.
On Monday, 14 December 2021, at 10:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military and Border Police escort and equipped with two bulldozers to the land of the community of Khalet al-Furn in the South Hebron Hills. The forces raked agricultural land in a 4-dunam area, and demolished a cistern owned by a family from East Jerusalem by the power of Military Order 1797.
On Wednesday, 15 December 2021, Mahmoud Hamamdeh, a farmer from Khirbet al-Mufaqarah, plowed his plot of land in the Khirbet a-Rakeez area about a kilometer east of which the settlement of Avigail was established. A settler who noticed the work summoned the Civil Administration, who came to the scene accompanied by a military jeep and confiscated the tractor and a digger on the pretext that it was used for work on state land.

Confiscation of the tractor near the community of She’b al-Batem. Photo by Itai Feitelson, 16 Dec. 2021
Confiscation of the tractor near the community of She’b al-Batem. Photo by Itai Feitelson, 16 Dec. 2021

On Thursday, 16 December 2021, farmer Sa’id ‘Awad from the community of Um Lasafa plowed his land near the community of She’b al-Batem in the South Hebron Hills using a tractor and a digger. The work was coordinated with the Civil Administration (C.A.), and one of its representatives was present on the ground along with soldiers who accompanied him. At around 11:00 A.M., About six settlers came to the land. The settlers spoke with the representative of the C.A., and after a few minutes, the latter forbade the farmer to plow all his lands and ordered him to settle for part of it. The farmer moved to a nearby plow he owns, where the military does not require him to coordinate his work, and began plowing it. However, the C.A. representative and the soldiers then confiscated the tractor and the plow he used on the pretext that it was state land. 

A resident of al-Farisiyah forced to transport milk by donkey after the confiscation of the tractor. Photo by ‘Aref Daraghmeh, B’Tselem, 19 Dec. 2021
A resident of al-Farisiyah forced to transport milk by donkey after the confiscation of the tractor. Photo by ‘Aref Daraghmeh, B’Tselem, 19 Dec. 2021
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Confiscation of the tractor in the community of a-Rakeez. Photo by Neomi-Nur Zahor, 15 Dec. 2021