2nd April 2014 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Bruqin, Occupied Palestine
On the 1st of April, at approximately 5.30 AM, a bulldozer and eight military jeeps arrived in the village of Bruqin close to the city of Nablus. The bulldozer first destroyed a farmers shed, killing the ten rabbits inside. The destruction continued as a caravan belonging to another farmer was also demolished, and finally later the same night, a building belonging to a farmer in the nearby village of Beit Furik was also destroyed.
This is just one of many nights where Palestinian property has been demolished by the Israeli army. Inside the village of Bruqin a girl’s school, recently financed by US Aid, is threatened by a demolition order.
The mayor of Bruqin spoke to an ISM activist after the demolitions:
“I talked to some Israeli settlers one week ago, and told them that we could live in peace, together. But they replied that they want another 700 dunums of land from Bruqin. So, I don’t think that they want peace. If you really want peace, you wouldn’t take what’s mine”.
The resistance in Bruqin against the illegal expansion of settlements continues. The day after the demolitions, men, women and children of the village went out on the hills close to a nearby illegal settlement and planted olive trees.
14th November 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team | Izbit Tabib, Occupied Palestine
Several years ago the village of Izbit Tabib, east of Qalqiliya was served with demolition orders by the Israeli Army. The orders would mean destruction of 33 houses (73% of the village) and the village school.
The school of Izbit Tabib (photo by ISM).
Two houses have already been demolished and the school which has 52 students is vital to the village and its future.
One of the demolished houses (photo by ISM).
The villagers have been striving to get the order quashed in the Israeli courts, but the threat remains and hangs over the village like a black cloud.
Yesterday the villagers organised a demonstration against the threat and were supported by representatives of the Palestinian Authority, groups of international activists, Israeli activists and a TV camera team. The school children joined the protest and made several speeches.
The protest march (photo by ISM).
Trees were planted at the site of a proposed new school and the demonstrators then marched into the village with banners flying and heard speeches condemning the Israeli army’s intended action.
27th June 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Khalil Team | Susiya, Occupied Palestine
Today, June 27, 2013, the Israeli Civil Administration served thirty-four demolition orders in the Susiya village, which is in Area C and surrounded by the Israeli colony of Suseya. Due to previous demolition orders, every existing structure in the village is now threatened with destruction if they do not obtain permits by July 17.
Original copies of all the demolition orders served today (Photo by ISM)
The residents of Susiya include more than thirty families, who were all evacuated from their homes in the old Susiya village and forced to relocate 200 meters to the southeast, in 1986. Susiya residents collaborate with the nearby villages in Masafer Yatta, a closed military “firing zone,” also in Area C and threatened with demolition. On July 15, a hearing will decide whether all the villages in Masafer Yatta can be evacuated by the military. Hafez Huraini, leader of the South Hebron Hills Popular Committee and himself a refugee from 1948, emphasizes that the villagers in Susiya are targeted simply for existing, so everything they do from grazing sheep to visiting family members in the nearby city of Yatta draws violence from the Israeli military and the local settlers.
Susiya has faced six mass demolitions since the establishment of the Israeli Suseya colony in 1983. The last wave of demolitions in 2011 repeatedly displaced 37 people including 20 children [1]. Residents of Susiya, most of whom rely on subsistence agriculture, are subject to some of the worst living conditions in the West Bank. Their houses were destroyed by Israeli forces and they now live in tents and shelters, paying more than five times the price nearby villages pay for water and consuming less than 1/3 of the WHO standard per capita [2]. Settlers have violently denied Susiya residents access to over 300 hectares of their land, including 23 water cisterns. Documented cases of settler violence include beatings, verbal harassment and destruction of property. Settlers then annex parts of the land by exploiting the Palestinian owners’ inability to access their land.
Of over 120 complaints that have been filed based on monitoring from Rabbis for Human Rights, regarding settler attacks and damage to property, around 95 percent have been closed with no action taken. In 2010, when 55 Susiya residents petitioned the High Court to be granted access to their land, the State responded that it intended to map land ownership of the area. Since then they have only closed to settlers 13% of the land Palestinians have been denied access to, reversing only one incursion [3].
Susiya has been the site of creative non-violent resistance for years, resistance that is continually met with brutality. Events have included marches, picnics on land likely to be confiscated, and Palestinian “outposts.” This coming Saturday Susiya will be part of a festival in the South Hebron Hills aimed at raising awareness about the situation of Masafer Yatta residents and stress their right to remain on their land [4]. In the words of Hafez Huraini, coordinator of the South Hebron Hills Popular Committee, “We will not give up.”
Sources:
[1] Strickland, Patrick O. “Palestine’s Front Line: The Struggle for Susiya.” Palestine Note RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 June 2013.
[2] “Susiya: At Imminent Risk of Forced Displacement.” Susiya: At Imminent Risk of Forced Displacement – OCHA Factsheet (30 March 2012). N.p., Mar. 2012. Web. 27 June 2013.
25th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Team Nablus | Beit Dajan, Occupied Palestine
Members of the Hannachi family next to one of the threatened homes
Five houses are facing demolition orders on the outskirts of Beit Dajan, a village located 10 kilometers east of Nablus. In the last month the Israeli Army have entered the village and presented residents of three of the homes with demolition orders, stating the land that they reside on is classed as Area C and therefore considered a security zone and under full Israeli civil and security control. However Beit Dajan is classed as Area B and under Palestinian control, the residents were given permission by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to build there and are currently arguing this point in case in Israeli court.
The other two houses were given demolition orders ten years prior with no official judgement made in court leaving the residents in a constant state of limbo ever since, never knowing if one morning they will wake up to find this is the day their family home will be destroyed. The five homes house over sixty members of an extended family and provide easy access to the adjoining land on which they grow olive trees. Foundation markings had also begun in preparation for the building of another home but they were given a ‘stop work’ order in conjunction with the demolition orders -again despite having permission from the PA.
The three houses facing recent demolition orders were all built within the last five years and keep the three generations of family members together. The residents are currently trying to argue their case in Israeli court citing the land ownership papers and maps of the area distinguishing Area B and C – the village’s lawyer is hoping for a court ruling on the 3rd of June, although there are likely to be delays. As one resident wryly stated in regard to the land classification and the likelihood of the Israeli Army and Government adhering to this, “The centre of Nablus is Area C, everywhere is Area C.”
Of the collection of seven houses standing together only two do not have demolition orders. The remaining five that do are all within one hundred metres of those with permission, a clear demonstration of the arbitrary nature of the line drawn between Area B and C. Last month, 500 olive trees deemed by the Israeli authorities to be in Area C were uprooted by the Israeli military in Beit Dajan.
One woman, May Hannachi, described the traumatic experience for her family of Israeli soldiers coming to present the demolition orders. One of the homes under these orders is intended to be for her and her future husband whom she will marry in September. If they do not succeed in court, Abdul Rahman Hannachi, owner of another of the threatened homes, said that the family would stand in front of the bulldozers.
The foundations of a new home which now has a ‘stop work’ order
24th April 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Beit Dajan, Occupied Palestine
By Team Nablus
Jamal Kanaan stays steadfast in Beit Dajan
On the 22nd April 2013, 500 trees belonging to Beit Dajan villager Jamal Kanaan were uprooted by the Israeli military; making a total of six times since 2002 that his olive trees have been destroyed by the Israeli authorities.
Around 50 soldiers arrived in the early morning and uprooted the young trees by hand, removing them in jeeps before Jamal could arrive and intervene in the theft of his trees. The olives had been planted just one year ago, following the Israeli army bulldozing his previous trees. Each of the five previous times that Jamal’s trees have been destroyed he has replanted them; even though they often don’t even grow old enough to produce olives.
This year, the military once again gave Jamal no notification that his trees were to be uprooted; the only time that he has had any sort of notice was in 2005 when a letter was left under a stone on his land.
Jamal’s trees are in Area C, meaning that the Israeli occupiers claim full administrative and civil control over the land, even though it is privately owned by Palestinians. On the ground, this designation means that Palestinians have to ask for permission to build, to plant and to use their own land – this permission is rarely granted. The outskirts of most Palestinian villages, including Beit Dajan are This is used as a tactic to restrict the livelihoods of Palestinians and stop expansion of Palestinian villages, whilst grabbing more land for illegal Israeli settlements.
Despite the repeated destruction of his trees, Jamal remains steadfast, saying today “I will not leave my land. My land is like my ID card, my identity. I will always replant my trees on my land. Whatever the occupation does, I will not leave.”
In February 2013, seven demolition orders were delivered to the village of Beit Dajan, ordering the destruction of homes, electricity pylons and homes for sheep – this decision is currently being fought in the Israeli courts and the demolitions have currently been delayed. Jamal Kanaan’s land in 2012 after the Israeli military had removed his trees – circles indicate where they had been planted. Photo credit Beit Dajan Municipality
