Update: On 19th January morning Israeli forces demolished and confiscated emergency aid, including 18 Red Cross tents, provided to displaced families in Hamamat Al Maleh. The whole area was declared closed military zone and observers and journalists were not allowed entry the entire day, only locals were allowed to enter.
On 17th January 55 buildings were demolished in the Al Maleh area of the northern Jordan Valley.
At around 9.00 am these two communities were invaded by two busloads of soldiers, Israeli police, a number of jeeps and three JCB bulldozers. Some came from a nearby military base, and others from Maskiyot settlement complex, which overlooks al-Maleh. The bulldozer drivers were clad in balaclavas to hide their identity.
This large scale military operation happened simultaneously in two separate locations in Hamamat al-Maleh, and another further up the valley in Al-Mayta.
Upon arrival, the army declared al-Maleh a closed military zone, and refused entry to residents, observers and a delegation of medical staff whilst the demolitions took place. The masked, unidentifiable workers accompanying them assisted in removing possessions from resident’s homes.
Of the 55 buildings demolished, 23 were family homes: 5 in Hamamat al-Male (leaving 37 people homeless) and 18 in Al-Mayta (leaving 150 people homeless). In addition 33 other building, used to shelter the communities animals, and therefore the livelihood of these communities, were destroyed. Amongst the destruction, purposefully wrecked water tanks were found — in a region of the West Bank where water is deliberately made scarce for Palestinians.
Al-Maleh and Al-Mayta are two marginalized villages located in the north of the Jordan Valley, near the Tayasir checkpoint. They have been subject to repeated harrassment and demolitions and only two weeks ago were forced to leave their homes overnight, purportedly due to Israeli military training.
Israeli army demolishes houses in Al MalehJCB machines demolish Bedouin tentsAfter the demolitions in Al MalehBulldozers arriving (Photo by: Ahmad Al-Bazz)
14 January 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Hebron, Occupied Palestine
Israeli military bulldozers destroyed four homes in a morning of mayhem in the South Hebron Hills. The demolitions were carried out by plain clothed officers accompanied by 15 Border Police and two bulldozers.
At 8 am Monday 14th January the house of Shoib Hathaleen in the village of Um Al Kheir was demolished by the Israeli occupation forces bulldozers. Eight people lived in the house, four adults and four children. Shoib has had a stroke and is unable to speak. The family were able to remove their possessions and pile them up next to the rubble of their home. The house had a demolition order put on it three years ago and on this morning the Israeli military turned up unexpectedly to wreak havoc on this refugee family. Their status as refugees means that the Red Cross who visited the family shortly afterwards has to check with the United Nations Works and Relief Agency (UNWRA) before supplying them with basic aid such as a tent for shelter from the cold.
From Um Al Kheir two Israeli army bulldozers drove to an area called Shakia, near to the village of Hawara, between Um Al Kheir and Al Dereit. This is a rural area and the houses are spread far apart across the hills. The two bulldozers, acccompanied by Israeli army jeeps and plain clothed officers possibly from the District Coordination Office (DCO) driving in white pick up trucks drove around the area leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.
At 9:45 am the next house to be demolished belonged to Ziad Makhamri.Ziad lives in this house for four to five months a year in the spring. Ziad owns a hundred sheep and lives in the house when his flock grazes on the lands around the house which he owns, the rest of the year Ziad lives in the village of Birl Ed. The family recieved a phone call to say the Israeli army were demolishing their house. They turned up to see the house lying in ruins. “The family were given no notice and no reason as to the destruction of their house, there was no demolition order on the building,” a family member Jamille Makhamri, a vetenary doctor said. “This is area C, we did not have a permit to build the house but the Israelis don’t ever give permission to build,” he added. Area C is under full Israeli civil and military control and permissions for Palestinians to build on the lands they own is very rarely granted.
At 10:45 am the home of Waleed Saljbor’s family was destroyed. And at 11:10 am the family of Mohammed Ali Issa Atayet, comprising of fifteen people including children, found themselves homeless as the Israeli occupation forces bulldozed their home.
The Israeli military targeting civilian housing in the middle of winter, leaving people to fend of the bitterly cold weather with little more than the clothes they are wearing, can only be described as acts wonton destruction carried out against farmers who work the land, and refugees.
Team Khalil is a group of volunteers of International Solidarity Movement based in Hebron (al Khalil)
5 December 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
The pain and anguish on the woman’s face was penetrating. Earlier this morning two Israeli military jeeps, one civil administration vehicle, and a bulldozer had arrived at her home with orders to level the structure. This is in spite of ongoing legal proceedings seeking to preserve the home. The modest twenty square meter home was erected by the owners of the land in November of 2011. Just three days after the building was complete, the Israeli Civil Administration arrived and informed the owners that the structure was not permissible due to their failure to acquire appropriate building permits. But as these civil servants knew full well, for Palestinians acquiring building permits is no simple matter.
A Bedouin woman whose home has been demolished
The family lives in a small Bedouin village part of Aqraba, located in what is known as Area C of the Jordan Valley, a category designating territories within the West Bank which are formally under full Israeli civil and military control (as determined in the Oslo Accords). According to the Mayor, Israel is engaged in a systematic process of clearing the area of its inhabitants so that its fertile land can be appropriated for agriculture uses by nearby settlements.
This project of enclosure has caused persistent problems for the Palestinian Bedouin community living in the West Bank. Through a combination of complex bureaucratic hurdles and systematic discrimination, Israel routinely denies these communities the right to develop structures on their own property. When they take matters into their own hands (as they must to survive), Israel responds with more blunt forms of dispossession, today’s demolition being a case in point.
With the destruction of the home, the family was in desperate need of shelter. Members of the community, including civic leaders from the town of Aqraba, lent a hand in erecting a tent that would serve as their new home. A torrential downpour soon descended upon us, forcing everyone to seek temporary cover. Perhaps this was an ominous sign of the coming seasonal change and the challenges the family will inevitably face. Inside the tent, following the arrival of the Red Crescent Disaster Response division on the scene, an account of what transpired in the course of the demolition began to be recorded. Questions were primarily directed at the male owner of the home and the village mayor who was present to lend support for the family. Shortly after the rain relented, the folks inside the tent went outside and began assembling a second tent.
The building destroyed by the Israeli military was home to a family of five, and these simple tents will now serve as their only refuge from the elements. In the course of the demolition, the bulldozer also destroyed their toilet facilities and the electrical wires running to the nearby building that housed the kitchen, though those who gathered to assist the family were at least able to repair the damaged electrical wires. In addition, they also leveled a tent structure used to shield barley that serves as food for their livestock.
I sat quietly inside the tent with the woman and she poured me a second cup of tea. I watched her as she stared at the pile of rubble that was once her home, before turning her eyes to perform a visual survey of her belongings now huddled inside the tent. David and Andrea soon joined us, grabbing a seat on the single-sized bed pushed against the backside of the tent. Through Andrea’s knowledge of Arabic, we managed to engage in some simple conversation with the woman. During this brief exchange the woman revealed her pain and fears, and as she spoke tears began rolling down her cheeks. She indicated that her health and well-being were worrisome, and that being exposed to the elements like this would undoubtedly mean a turn for the worse. In a searing display of vulnerability, she said that with the destruction of her home she had nothing left to live for and now simply awaits her death. While this testimony proved tear-jerking and heart-wrenching, it was accompanied by a humbling display of compassion. Our new friend exuded a warmth and generosity that conveyed an underlying resilient spirit, bringing to life the maxim that ‘existence is resistance’. She extended sincere gratitude for our presence, calming the tensions I felt about being an onlooker to another’s misery. She patiently fielded our questions and provided poignant accounts of what this experience meant to her. At the conclusion of our exchange she said that we were like sons to her, and may god bless us.
Our powerful encounter with this 58-year-old woman occurred by mere chance, but reveals something profound about the concept of grass-roots democracy. So often we look to people of stature for insights and detail, erringly overlooking the wisdom embedded in the experiential knowledge of those most marginalized and often neglected. As an international, I often struggle to determine what it is I need to communicate to people upon returning home. Without a doubt the injustices I have witnessed deserve special attention, but perhaps just as important are the simple acts of humanity I have encountered. For within this one woman’s warmth and resilience are the seeds necessary for cultivating a better world.
The remains of the home which has been demolishedFamily belongingsPutting up a tent where the family will live
Photos by David Langstaff.
Jeff Berryhill and David Langstaff are volunteers with the International solidarity movement.
by Wyatt Black 1 December 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On the morning of November 28th, numerous soldiers came to the village of Susiya in the South Hebron Hills, unannounced from the nearby settlement, which is also called Susiya. The army jeeps and construction equipment came rolling in around eight o’clock and quickly went to work without giving any information as to why they were invading someone’s private land, and proceeded to demolish a tent in the village.
Esha Ishboal erected a tent two years ago so that his workers could have some shade while picking olives on one of his families’ properties in Susiya, which is south of the city of Al Khalil (Hebron). It was a simple structure, not dirty or old. It had a metal frame and was almost always open on all sides but one, just enough to block some wind. Here Esha would invite his friends to have tea, or as in my case he’d ask a stranger if they would like some hospitality. That was the situation on his farm a couple weeks ago at least.
The table and chairs were spared but the tent itself was leveled. This was an especially lazy demolition since it wouldn’t have taken a bulldozer to bring the tent to the ground. A couple of soldiers could have done it in less than half an hour.
Esha Ishboal looks at the remains of his tent after the demolition
Wyatt Black is a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed)
November 6th 2012 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank
On the morning of November 6th, 2012, a house in the village of Deirit in the South Hebron Hills was demolished by the Israeli Army amidst most of the town watching and a significant amount of media coverage. The military started moving towards the location at approximately 6 am with two excavator cranes and one bulldozer. This heavy equipment was accompanied by multiple army vehicles and border police personnel who woke up the family and forced them from their residence.
The Israeli military gave no forewarning written, verbally or otherwise as to their homes destruction. The building of the house began three years ago and was on land that was perfectly acceptable and legal to build on. At that time the Israeli military said the digging of the foundations would be problematic but had not discussed anything further with a family that merely wanted to make a place to exist on using property they own.
The building was a solid concrete structure with steal reinforcement and was obviously well built and maintained.
Mohammad Moussa Abuarram was the home owner, he and his family of eight are now being sheltered at one of his brothers houses.
by Team Khalil
Villagers from Deirit sit on the debris after the demolition.
On 17th January 55 buildings were demolished in the Al Maleh area of the northern Jordan Valley.
