Tag: House Demolition

Israel: Charging house demolition victims to pay costs of demolition equipment

by Samira | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

The people in the Bedouin community, Mihtawish, in Khan el Ahmar area outside Jerusalem today faced a house demolition. Three family houses were demolished, which hosted in total 39 people. 30 of them are children. One family lived in their house year round and two were soon to come for the winter. The families will now stay temporary  in tents provided by the UN, but they will have to move to another area, while the demolition order is still valid.

The families received the first demolition order 10 days ago and were then told to demolish their own houses. When this did not happened a final demolition order was sent three days ago. Around 10 AM today 15 military vehicles arrived and the army demolished the three houses. Two of the sons of the families spotted the jeeps and called the head of the community, Abu Rayyed, who contacted the UN and the president of the whole area.

Charging victims of house demolitions - Click here for more images

Of course the families did not demolish their homes themselves. Not only did they loose their homes, but they will also be held responsible to pay for the rent of the bulldozer that demolished the houses. Only one woman and one child were present when the demolition happened. All the men stayed away from the location in order not to be held financially responsible.

The area is considered Area C, which means no Palestinians are allowed to build anything, yet Bedouins, known for their nomadic lifestyles, have been caged between areas. They are also prohibited from rebuilding old encampments or houses.

Abu Rayyed recently brought new wooden panels and corrugated iron for his house, but all building materials were confiscated by the Israeli army. The area is also a nature protectorate, but the hills are all sand and stones and the only green to be seen is inside the illegal Israeli settlements that are surrounding the Bedouin communities.

The families in the Bedouin community in Khan el Ahmar are originally from southern Palestine, but were displaced in the 50’s.

“I was born in ’58, but I am born here too.” Says Aby Rayyed.

Now the families are soon to face a second replacement. This was the first demolition in the whole area of Khan el Ahmar, but not the last one. The villagers have received a verbal demolition order for the whole area, and the whole Bedouin community will be displaced. There are speculations that this will happen In January, but yet none knows for sure when and how it will happen, or where they will go, as expressed by a woman who lost her home today.

“They want us to go away, but where should we go? There is nowhere for us to move. But they want us all to disappear. All of us,” she said.

Samira is an activist with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).

Anata falls victim to militarized, illegal settlement once again

by Jenna Bereld

26 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Anata falls victim to demolition - Click here for more images

When Mohammad woke up on Tuesday, he still did not know about the Israeli forces or the bulldozers that were on their way to uproot his trees and demolish his entire farm. But before the day was over, all of his property was erased and one could hardly guess that there had ever been a building there.

“I’m very sad because of the farm”, Mohammad said.

The soldiers claimed that the buildings were illegal, referring to the Israeli Civil Administration. “This is the land from my grandfather, and I have no other land,” Mohammad says.

Mohammad lives in Anata in the West Bank with his wife and twelve children. The village is trapped by the Separation Wall around Jerusalem to the west, and Area C and the planned expansion of the settlement Ma’ale Adumim to the east. The village has no possibility to expand without building permits from the Israeli Civil Administration. The process is expensive, and for Palestinians, the application is rejected in 95% of the cases. From 2000 to 20007 91 almost 5,000 demolition orders against Palestinian buildings were issued.

In a separate incident, a four year old Palestinian child from Anata was shot in the neck around noon. Asil Arara’s wounds have left her in  serious condition and may cause paralysis. The illegal Israeli settlement of Anatot, also home to settlers who recently violently attacked Israeli peace activists, is home to a military training camp, where it is said the shot that struck Arara was fired.

 

 

 Jenna Bereld is an activist with International Solidarity Movement (name has been changed).


After decade of demolitions, Susiya shepherd will continue to herd

11 October 2011  | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

On 10 October an Israeli army jeep filled with Israeli soldiers and a representative from the District Coordination Office (DCO) drove down the dirt track roads from the neighboring military base towards the small village of Susiya. The purpose of this visit was to serve yet another demolition order, the third since late August this year, to Muhammed Musa Muranam and his family.

Muhammed Musa Muranam and his wife pose with a demolition order issued against them

Muhammed has been formally notified by the Israeli authorities that he does not have permission to stay on his land and that he must tear down both his own home and his livestocks’ shelter immediately. If Muhammed refuses, the army will return with their bulldozers to complete the demolition.

Muhammed and his wife live permanently in their tent home in Susiya. if the tents are demolished his family, and their livestock will be homeless. Muhammed has documents proving that the land has been in his family for several generations.

On 11 October 2011 Muhammed told an ISM volunteer that he is determined to stay in his home, and that he will continue herding his sheep for as long as possible.  Muhammed is unwilling, and perhaps unable, to contemplate his family’s future if his home is destroyed.

Susiya has a long history of demolition orders dating back to 1991. In 2001 the whole village was demolished by Israeli army soldiers and their bulldozers. Caves, tents and wells were all destroyed leaving approximately 70 people homeless. The last demolition in the village of Susyia was four months ago. At this time six family homes were demolished (all from the Jabur family). Two of these families have now built and live in temporary tents, the other families have relocated to Yatta. The court case is in relation to these demolitions is ongoing.

It is unclear at this time whether Muhammed will return to the Isreali courts to challenge the demolition order; understandably he has little faith in the Israeli justice system.

House Demolition: Jab’a resident insists he will rebuild again

10th October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank.

On 10th October 2011 at 5am Israeli forces demolished a family home in the village of Al Jab’a, about 15 km southwest of Bethlehem.

The owner, Sheikh Nasri, was farming his land at the time of the demolition. Nasri, 50, had been constructing the house for his family of ten children whilst living in a nearby rented property. He had applied for a building permit, which was still pending. Villagers reported that a Demolition Order had not been presented.

Al Jab’a has a population of around 800 and is near the illegal Israeli settlements of Batayim and Nahal Gebaot. In an interview with ISM volunteers, Sheikh Nasri explained that the location of his village is a cause for daily struggle; they are refused access to much of their farm land by the military and endure prolonged assaults from the settler community. When Shieikh Nasri’s 15 year old son attempted to farm their land, soldiers arrested him, and he was detained in an Israeli prison for over 6 months. On another occasion soldiers refused to allow Sheikh Nasri and his pregnant wife to pass through a check point to get to the local hospital – she was forced to have her baby at home without medical care.

 When asked what he plans to do next, Shiekh Nasri remains defiant:

I will build it again, and if they take it down again, I will do it again. And I will do it again. If I die, my son will do it. If my son dies, his son will do it. Until we all die. That’s what I’m planning to do… To stay here, plant the land, build houses and die here. We have no other place to live.

The Israeli wall plan will result in Al Jab’a being besieged by the wall from the north, east and west and bypass road number 367 from the south, effectively isolating it from the rest of the West Bank. Villagers reported that 10 other houses are currently at risk of demolition.

 

Beit Kahlil: Tear gas flies as Israel demolishes home

6 October 2011 | International Solidarity Movement, West Bank

Demolitions in Beit Kahlil - Click here for more images
Demolitions in Beit Kahlil - Click here for more images

At 5:00 AM on the morning of the 6th October, approximately 30 armed soldiers came to demolish a house in Beit Kahil. The IOF woke up the family living in the neighbouring house and informed them about the demolition and declared the entire area a closed military zone. When he arrived,  Omar Ahmad Hussan Abdel Din, the owner of the house,  informed the soldiers about his lawyers appeal to the Israeli Court for getting the demolition order postponed until he had an official response to his application for building permission, but with no effect.

A member of the Abdel Din family said, “Why do we need a permission from Israel to build this is Palestine and Palestinian land? Though this is considered area C by the Israeli authorities, I do not recognise their authority, and anyways it is their bureaucratic way of stealing land.”

While a bulldozer was demolishing the Abdel Din house residence, the neighbourhood tried to prevent the demolition by throwing stones. The soldiers prevented them getting any way near by using sound bombs and shooting tear gas grenades. During the protest one of the tear gas canisters broke the window and entered a house resulting in three women and four children being taken to the hospital and treated for tear gas inhalation. An additional 2 people were injured by the tear gas cannisters, requiring 1 person who needed 3 stitches.

The village of Beit Kahil is divided by a valley with the road running to Hebron. In 2009 the houses on the one same side of the valley as an Israeli military base got demolition orders at once. Including the house of Omar Abdel Din, demolition orders were given to around 15 houses which are inhabited by around 100 citizens.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r–KuGzPVww

One of the neighbours said, “Obviously when we saw the Occupation Forces and bulldozers we were shocked and feared that they would demolish all our houses.”

In 2011 14 houses were demolished in the Hebron area, leaving 104 Palestinian homeless including 50 minors. Area C and B are the areas where Palestinians need to seek permission from Israeli authorities to build, accounting for 83 % of the West Bank.

According to the Israel Civil Administration, more than 93 % of the applications for a building permission are refused, and many Palestinians do not even bother to ask permission to build knowing they will be refused.