Tag: E1

A day of demolitions: Houses destroyed by JCB vehicles at Abu Nuwar

By Amy Hall, Lydia Noon, Eliza Egret and Tom Anderson from Corporate Occupation

Not content with continuous demolition of school classrooms, the Israeli authorities have now moved on to the demolition of homes in the Palestinian Bedouin community of Abu Nuwar.

Around 8.30am on Wednesday 4 May, Corporate Occupation witnessed Israeli soldiers, border police and representatives of the civil administration arriving in the village, which is in the West Bank district of Jerusalem, and declaring the area a closed military zone.

According to B’Tselem, nine homes were destroyed, along with three farm buildings, leaving 62 people – about half of them children – homeless. Bulldozers made by the British firm JCB were used to demolish buildings as a surveillance drone was flown overhead.

Like Khan al-Ahmar, just down the road, the Bedouin community of Abu Nuwar is being threatened with relocation by Israel. It stands in the way between annexed East Jerusalem and the huge settlement of Maale Adumim which looms over the village. The Israeli authorities plan to build thousands of settlement houses here, in the “E1 corridor”, and further divide the West Bank.

Abu Nuwar, which has around 600 residents, is tucked away behind the main road – a road people can only use by car, massively restricting people from moving with their animals. Before the Apartheid Wall was built, people from Abu Nuwar were able to sell their sheep in Jerusalem, now they can only sell in cities within the West Bank, which they say brings in a much smaller income.

Several demolitions were reported in the West Bank on 4 July. As demolitions in Abu Nuwar took place, the authorities prepared to demolish the village of Khan al Ahmar, home to nearly 200 people. Israeli Civil Administration officials took down barriers at the side of the road to give access for bulldozers and vehicles. Several people were arrested during a protest which blocked a bulldozer from getting through. Israel’s Supreme Court ruled in favour of demolishing Khan al Ahmar in May, after an international campaign to save the village and its school.

In February 2018, Israeli forces demolished two classrooms of Abu Nuwar’s school, affecting over 25 students. This was the fifth demolition or confiscation of classrooms since February 2016. In April, we interviewed community representative Abu Imad about the community’s struggle for survival. We spoke inside Abu Nuwar’s community centre which was being used as a temporary classroom for the third grade.

Why is this building now being used by the school?

An order declaring a closed military zone

We are forced to use it because of the demolition of the classrooms.

The closest school to this community was 2km away. There is no transportation and there is no good road. It’s very tiring for children to make it the whole way – children as young as five or six years old. In collaboration with some associations in the European Union (EU) we established the kindergarten and we got an order from the court that prevents the occupation from demolishing it.

Since then we have built many classrooms for the school which have been demolished or confiscated. We have been working with our lawyer and going to the Israeli court try and stop this happening.

The most recent demolition was on 4 February 2018. They did it between 2.00am and 5.00am and they used JCB machines. When they come to demolish they close the entire area and make it a closed military zone.

The remains of a classroom in Abu Nuwar, after February’s demolition

What support have you had from international governments and NGOs?

There is always logistical support from organisations providing us with water tanks. They just provide us with material to be demolished again. They try to put pressure on the occupation to stop these practices but it’s not enough. They are always shy when talking to the occupation.

We had welcomed a lot of groups of British politicians as well and we asked them to support us with a bus for students, but they have not tried to help.

Our fight is to keep presence on the land in the first place. Even though nowadays our options are getting narrower. Internationally speaking we can see that there are many countries supporting the state of Israel and we can predict that we will be living in more enclosed and pressured situations in the future.

It’s frustrating and depressing. We have many international agreements that Palestinians have the right to live peacefully and safely and they don’t respect these laws at all.

For three years they have been trying to make us willingly leave. The Civil Administration said they would give us money to leave. We didn’t even open the door to ask how much, but they seem to be ready to pay anything.

Protestors return to Bab-Alshams

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Update:  16 January

All the detainees from Bab Al Shams have been released!

15 January 2013 |  Bab-Alshams, Occupied Palestine

Following the violent eviction of Bab-Alshams (gateway of the sun) on Sunday around a hundred Protestors returned to the land which the Israeli Occupation Forces call E1. After the acceptance of Palestine as a non-member state to the UN, Israel announced the approval of a plan to expand by building some 4,000 residential units in this area. Such construction would effectively bisect the West Bank, effectively cutting it off from Jerusalem.

The protestors arrived before 15:00 to the surprise of Israeli Police stationed in the area; two groups approached Bab-Alshams from different directions. As protestors moved up the hill Israeli Occupation Forces began to attack the demonstration initially with stun grenades.

Activist’s remained steadfast and refused to leave the land which is privately owned by Palestinians. Israeli police began to outnumber protestors and then began detaining Palestinians violently. Slowly Israeli forces managed to push activists down the hill.

Activists regrouped at the bottom of the hill, sat down and began to sing. The violence of the Israeli authorities then again increased, one women was beaten and suffered a head wound which required medical attention. At least two others were injured one male was bleeding heavily from the wrist, while others were being treated for shock.

At-least 10 people were arrested most of which have now been released. Some remain in detention including an ISM cofounder Neta Golan.

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E1 settlement project ongoing, Israel invested 200 million NIS for settlement construction

Saed Bannoura | IMEMC

Israel is ongoing with the infrastructure work, which includes roads and homes in the so-called E1 area, in east Jerusalem in order to impose its own vision of any future peace deal by disconnecting geographical contiguity of the Palestinian territories and linking Maali Adumim illegal settlement with East Jerusalem and other settlements around it. e1_maaleh_adumimjpeg

Israel planned this construction initially in 1994, and in 1999 the Higher Construction Committee approved the plan but was not implemented due to American pressure.

In May of 2008, Israel constructed a police station in the area and went on to pave roads, main junctions, public squares, checkpoints, a bridge, side walls, and other constructions with a total cost that exceeded 100 Million New Israeli Shekels.

Israel also paved a road which links Khizma Palestinian town with Al Zeaayim area in order to be used by the Palestinians as they will not be allowed into the E1 area. The plan will further bloc any contiguity between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, said after he won the elections in March of 2006 that he intends to construct and expand settlements in the E1 area and vowed contiguity between the settlements and Jerusalem. This includes Gush Azion settlement bloc and Ariel settlement bloc in the southern and northern parts of the West Bank.

On Saturday, Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported that Olmert’s office declared that Ma’aleh Adumim settlement bloc is and will remain part of Jerusalem under any peace agreement. The settlement as well as all Israeli settlements and outpost are built on Palestinian lands illegal annexed by Israel.

Under the current plan, Israeli will build a new settlement on 12442 Dunams that would be annexed from the Palestinians living in Al Ezariyya, AL Toor and Al Esawiyya. It will contain 3500 housing units (for nearly 14500 settlers).

Also, ten hotels, recreational facilities, other settlement units, and an industrial zone would also be built under this plan.

Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, said that Ma’aleh Adumim is an inseparable part of Jerusalem and the state of Israel.

Haaretz reported that Barak’s office issued a statement saying that Ma’aleh Adumim will be linked with Mount Scopus and that it “is absolutely necessary to keep the area as part of Israel.

This was the same position of former Israeli Prime Minister Yithak Rabin, who was killed by an extremist Jew in 1995, as well as the position of consecutive Israeli government since East Jerusalem fell under Israeli occupation in 1967.

Ma’aleh Adumim is built on Palestinian lands in East Jerusalem, it lies 14 kilometers to the east of the city and is inhibited by more than 30000 settlers. The E1 project will ensure the expansion of the settlement and linking it with Jerusalem by annexing more Palestinian land from villages and towns in East Jerusalem.

The plan will cut off any possibility of developing Palestinian villages and cities in the area, and will block geographical contiguity which threatens the possibilities of establishing a viable Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The plan will prevent Palestinian construction between Jerusalem and Ramallah and will complicate the situation and make it difficult to reach an agreement on borders.

Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem and its surrounding Palestinians areas, are illegal under the international law since they are built on occupied lands. Yet, construction and expansion of illegal settlement remains the first priority of consecutive Israeli governments and the Palestinians continue to lose lands, olive orchards, and their villages, cities and towns continue to be isolated and separated by settlements and the illegal Annexation Wall.