November 13, 2024 | Kardala, N Jordan Valley
Today in the village of Kardala, in the North Jordan Valley, Israeli forces demolished a residential home. The short video below shows the demolition:
A resident of Kardala village remarked about the context of the demolition:
“Only a small number of people reside in this area, and suffer displacement and oppression for many years, from the demolition and destruction of property to the demolition of homes, with the aim of forcibly displacing the residents.”
On OCHA’s website dedicated to data on demolition and displacement in the West Bank, rolling figures which “reflect the demolition of Palestinian-owned structures and the resulting displacement of people from their homes across the West Bank since 2009” are updated every 48 hours. The numbers continue to grow as the project of colonial expansion increasingly saturates the occupied West Bank.
The equipment used in the demolition was manufactured by the South Korean international corporation Hyundai. The American Friends Service Committee has previously highlighted Hyundai’s involvement in West Bank home demolitions, and further profiled their involvement in colonial construction on Investigate.Info:
“The company’s track excavators and other machinery have been used in various construction projects in illegal Israeli settlements and industrial zones in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem. For example, in 2017, Hyundai machinery was used to pave a settler-only road in the occupied West Bank, as reported by Who Profits. The construction of the road involved uprooting some 700 olive trees belonging to Palestinians in the area.”
When the Shoal Collective carefully compiled information on every demolition of a home or structure carried out by Israeli forces throughout 2022, Hyundai was found to be the bulldozer-and-crane supplier company involved in the largest number of demolitions, and furthermore it was one of top three companies for the number of children affected by demolitions using its equipment.
Thus, among private corporations, Hyundai makes an significant contribution to perpetuating Israel’s ongoing illegal settlement expansion and colonial destruction of Palestinian homes and buildings.
