Updates

On 29 Jan. 2015, the Civil Administration dismantled water pipes recently installed for the small shepherding community of Khirbet Yarza in the Jordan Valley and confiscated the parts. Before the installation, the community relied on rainwater and private water purchase. This is one measure of several taken by Israeli authorities to relocate thousands of Palestinians living in Area C. As the occupying power in the West Bank, Israel must allow residents to maintain their lifestyle, permit them to build legally, and provide them water and electricity.

In a dramatic ruling, Israel's High Court of Justice accepted a petition filed by Palestinians from the West Bank village of 'Ein Yabrud together with Israeli human rights organizations B'Tselem and Yesh Din, and instructed the state to carry out demolition orders issued for nine structures built for the settlement of Ofra on the villagers' land. Most other structures in the settlement were also unlawfully built on privately-owned Palestinian land, without permits. B'Tselem welcomes the ruling but notes that the overall picture remains unchanged: Israel has been taking over Palestinian land in the West Bank for years, whether by gaining control of private land or by appropriating public land for settlement use under the guise of 'state land'.

Today (Wednesday, 28 January 2015) B’Tselem published its report on the policy of attacking residential buildings in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge. The report addresses one of the appalling hallmarks of the fighting in Gaza this summer: bombings in which hundreds of people were killed – constituting more than a quarter of all of the Palestinians killed in the fighting. Time and again Palestinian families suffered much grievous loss of life. In a single instant, so many families were ruined, with the wreckage of their lives mirroring the devastation of their homes. Hamas made explicit its intention to harm civilians. In contrast, the Israeli government claimed that it acted to prevent harm to civilians in Gaza. Is that the case?

On 12 Jan. 2015, the Civil Administration ordered all 15 families in the al-Ka’abneh community to leave in 48 hours due to “recent incursion into state land”. Att. Shlomo Lecker filed an objection on behalf of the families, who have lived near Wadi Qelt since 1983, after twice being evicted from future settlement sites. The Administration must enable Bedouin communities to maintain their lifestyle, plan independently and build legally, as well as connect them to infrastructure and provide them with basic health and education services.

Day in and day out, the Palestinians of Khirbet Susiya see the solid, permanent housing of the settlement of Susiya (est. 1983). Although there has been a Palestinian village in the area since the 19th century, the Israeli military displaced the residents from the original site of the village, declaring it an archeological site, and does not allow any construction whatsoever in the present location. In the face of the raging winter storm, this injustice is more blatant than ever. This is what weathering the winter in Susiya is like, as in dozens of other Palestinian communities in Area C that Israeli authorities are trying to displace. Nasser Nawaj'ah, B'Tselem field researcher in the Southern Hebron Hills and a resident of Susiya filmed scenes from the storm.

Muhammad Sabah, B’Tselem field researcher in Gaza, has been hard at work documenting life amidst the ruins left in the wake of this summer’s fighting: “The fighting during the Operation Protective Edge made it practically impossible to get around Gaza to document events as they unfolded. For the past three months, B’Tselem’s 3 field researchers in Gaza have been carefully going through the Gaza Strip, following up on reports one neighborhood at a time, one house at a time. We take pictures of formerly vibrant, densely populated neighborhoods that have been reduced to rubble. We meet people living amidst the ruins... (click to read more and view the photos)

On 23 Dec. 2014, a confrontation developed between Palestinians and soldiers near the Carmei Tzur settlement, which lies on land owned by Palestinians from nearby Beit Umar. Palestinians threw stones at soldiers, who responded with crowd control measures. An attack dog brought there by soldiers attacked a Palestinian teen, who was taken to hospital from there into custody. B’Tselem reiterates its demand that the military cease the reprehensible use of attack dogs.

Shuruq's home is one of 100,000 houses in Gaza that were ruined or damaged in Operation Protective Edge. The families who lived in them now live in rough, crowded conditions in the cold. She related: "For the first 7 years of our married life, we lived with my husband’s parents. We kept dreaming of building a home of our house so things would be calmer and easier for us. In 2012 we own to build a house on our plot... I felt I couldn’t go and look at what’s left of the house. I couldn’t bear to see how years of work went down the drain in a single moment."

Tens of thousands of Gazan families are homeless, more than 3 months after Israel’s last operation there. In October 2014, the UN published that 20,000 homes of families were destroyed in the operation, and another 80,000 damaged. In the town of Khuza’a, east of Khan Yunis and close to the border with Israel, hundreds were destroyed. Until last summer, the extended al-Qara family lived in a five-apartment building. It was destroyed in the fighting and they now live in two tents next to the ruins.