Tag: Khirbet Tana

Village of Khirbet Tana completely demolished by Israeli military

02 March 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

At 9 am this morning the Israeli military arrived to the village of Khirbet Tana, close to Beit Furik, south east of Nablus, with four bulldozers and army jeeps. For the sixth time this year the Israeli military demolished homes and animal shelters in the village, this time destroying the village completely. Around 250 people were made homeless and left without any shelter.

The soldiers carrying out the demolition prevented the villagers from collecting their personal belongings, and instead buried it all under dirt. Most of what could be of use for rebuilding the village was confiscated or destroyed in order to make it harder, or even impossible for the villagers to rebuild their homes.

Some of the villagers carried their belongings to the small mosque, seeking shelter there for the night, though there was not enough space for all. The only two buildings left standing were the mosque and the school. The school, however, could be described as a makeshift: it has just been built after the last demolition one week ago. The villagers believe that is just a matter of time before the army returns to destroy this school too.

Besides all the homes and animal shelters that were demolished, the Israeli army also punctured at least two water tanks, leaving as many families without drinking water. The lack of water, food, and shelter for their herds will lead to losses of animals.

During the demolition, a young man was beaten by a group of soldiers with sticks until he reached a state of unconsciousness. The family finally managed to stop the assault by throwing water at the soldiers. At 2 pm the young man that had been beaten was feeling well enough to help his family build a shelter for the animals.

Among the people made homeless today were a young mother with her small baby. When asked where the family will sleep tonight they responded with, “under this tree”.

The residents of Khirbet Tana are trying to rebuild their homes with what materials they can salvage, but are in desperate need of building materials and tents.

Background of Khirbet Tana

According to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, occupied Palestinan territory: “Khirbet Tana is a community of around 250 people, located in Area C,2 south-east of Nablus city, in an area declared “closed” by the Israeli military for training purposes. The residents, who have lived in the area for decades, reside in basic shelters (tents, tin structures, old caves) and rely on herding and agriculture for their livelihood.

Because residents of Khirbet Tana need grazing land for their livestock, most have no choice but to stay in the area, in order to sustain their livelihood. As such, the community has repeatedly re-built modest structures on the land, including residential tents and animal shelters. In 2008, the community, with the help of the Israeli NGO Rabbis for Human Rights, lodged a petition with the Israeli High Court of Justice, requesting the preparation of an adequate planning scheme for the village that would allow the issuance of building permits. The Court rejected the appeal in January 2009, and, shortly thereafter, the community again began receiving demolition orders.

The repeated waves of demolition carried out by the Israeli authorities make it extremely difficult for Khirbet Tana residents to live in stability, sustain their livelihood, or, given the repeated demolition of the village school, educate their children. There are numerous other Palestinian communities living in a similarly precarious situation due to their location in an area declared “closed” by the Israeli authorities. “ //unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/9A55FFBA1724298B852578340057A2F0

Israeli army demolishes homes in Khirbet Tana for the fifth time

20 February 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

The villagers in Khirbet Tana, near Beit Furik in the Nablus region, once again faced Israeli bulldozers destroying their homes. Only ten days after the last demolition, the Israeli army arrived in the village, and jeeps full of soldiers blocked the roads to the village whilst the bulldozers and diggers completely destroyed ten structures, including homes and animal shelters. A sheep was found on the ground that had been crushed by a bulldozer and was left dying. One tractor was also destroyed, and it has been reported that another one was confiscated by the army.

Two of the tents that the Red Cross had provided the families with after the last demolition were seized by the Israeli army, leaving them without shelter.

Palestinian man sits amongst the ruins of his home

The soldiers blocked the road and prevented anybody that wanted to go to the village during the time the demolition was going on. Around a dozen men from the village had to wait on the road while the army destroyed their homes, and were prevented from going to their families.

One asked: “What are you doing here?” The soldier answered: “We are carrying out orders from the Israeli government, army business. These houses are illegal; they don’t have permission to live here.” When asked, “Permission from whom? Do you have any proof which says these houses are illegal? Do you have papers that say you are allowed to destroy these homes and to make these people homeless?” The soldier answered, “We don’t need a permission, we don’t need a paper, I am your paper, I am a soldier.”

One of the people that had their home destroyed was Radi Mahmoud Hanani. Sitting in the remains of his home, he asked: “Where will we cook now? Where will we eat? Where will we sleep?”

The residents of Khirbet Tana are determined and soon after the Israeli army departed, they commenced with rebuilding the structures with what materials they could salvage.

More demolitions in Khirbet Tana

10 February 2011 | International Solidarity Movement

The village of Khirbet Tana, near Beit Furik, Nablus region, once again faced Israeli bulldozers yesterday. Several structures, including homes and animal shelters were demolished when the army arrived with six jeeps and two bulldozers. No notice was given of the destruction.

The villagers have been through this many times, the last time only a month ago. They will not be deterred though, and each time they set about rebuilding; Fozan Mousa Esai, an old farmer, says that he will rebuild his shelter for around two hundred sheep once again. He will, however, have to
sell some of them to be able to do it.

Villager stands by the site of the demolition

Many of Khirbet Tana’s population, originally consisting of some 60 families, have fled to Beit Furik, on whose lands Khirbet Tana resides. Israeli efforts to ethnically cleanse the area of its Palestinian
population dates back to the occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the situation worsening considerably since the Oslo Accords zoning scheme of 1994 deemed the entire region Area C, under full Israeli control. The village was demolished for the first time in 2005, when Israeli bulldozers razed 14 homes, 18 animal sheds and 6 animal stores to the ground, leaving only the ancient mosque standing. Using bureaucracy as a weapon, Israeli authorities then banned residents from building permanent structures on the site of their former homes by refusing to issue the necessary permits. Ramshackle tents and prefabricated structures now dot the hillsides of Khirbet Tana, as residents are forced to adopt an almost Bedouin lifestyle, fearing instant demolition at the first attempt to lay concrete or stone.

Israeli bulldozers visited Khirbet Tana a second time in May 2008, once again leaving only rubble in their wake. An objection then filed by residents to the Israeli High Court of Justice resulted in the final, non-objectionable decision to demolish all structures in Khirbet Tana and evict its entire population from their lands. This was carried out on 10 January 2010, when all 25 structures remaining in the village were once again flattened by the bulldozers of the occupation forces, including the school. Neighbouring agricultural communities such as Twiyel, east of Aqraba village, have suffered similar attacks in recent months.

Khirbet Tana’s remaining population ekes out a precarious existence in the isolated hills between Beit Furik and the Jordan Valley. Like Fursa Hanina, those who stay are determined to hold rightful claim to their land in the face of Israel’s bureaucratic and military machine, and its efforts to ethnically cleanse Palestine’s rural population.

EAPPI: Army makes fifty homeless in Jordan Valley demolitions

11 February 2011 | Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI)

Residents in the village of Khirbet Tana will sleep in caves tonight following the demolition of their homes on Wednesday. Israeli bulldozers destroyed six homes and several makeshift shelters for sheep, which villagers had erected after demolitions in January. The army has demolished multiple structures here on four occasions in recent years, including the village school.

Farmers in the community, on the edge of the Jordan Valley, said that when Israeli soldiers arrived at 9.30 in the morning, they did not give the farmers time to remove their sheep from makeshift tents they had used as animal shelters since the previous demolitions, in January. Observers from EAPPI witnessed dead lambs among the rubble.

“I wanted to take my sheep and lambs out. I wanted to take my things out of the tent but they would not let me,” Rafi Mahmoud Hanani told EAPPI. “I said please, I want to take my stuff, I have sheep. (But) they hit the sheep with the bulldozer.”

The army arrived with bulldozers at around 9.30 on Wednesday morning and razed 17 structures, many of which were provided to the community in the form of emergency assistance as a result of previous demolitions.

Over 50 people lost their homes and personal belongings.

“The deliberate demolitions of Palestinian homes and other structures need for their survival must be brought to an end,” said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in a statement. Khirbet Tana is in Area C, the 60 percent or so of the West Bank the Oslo Accords placed under full Israeli control. The Israeli authorities enforce strict policies against unauthorized Palestinian construction in the area, but almost never give permits for Palestinians to build there “legally”.

This is the fourth major demolition suffered by the community in the span of a few years. Last year, the community suffered extensive demolitions in January and again in December. On both occasions, a number of homes, animal shelters and the village school were destroyed.

EAPPI observers who also visited the village back in December said Rafi Mahmoud Hanani was distraught.

“After the December demolition he showed us what had happened: his stone house was totally destroyed and his belongings buried under the rubble. Despite all this, he laughed with us and told us about his life in the Jordanian army. This time he was broken. Nothing was left of any of his home or sheep shelters that had been supplied by the Red Cross. He was alone and devastated. His concern was for his three sheep and their new lambs, and his sick wife in Beit Furik.”

“I am 66 years old and I was born up there where you see the olive trees,” said Usra Ahmed Hanani, pointing to the nearby hillside. “(My husband) is nearly 80 years old and he was born here. We spend all our time with the sheep – how can we live without them? It is not possible.”

Collective punishment continues in Khirbet Tana

International Solidarity Movement

28 January 2010

Israeli occupation forces confiscated a fifth tractor from the endangered village of Khirbet Tana in the northern West Bank yesterday, January 27. The confiscation was justified by Israeli military personnel as punishment for farmers attempted to rebuild shelters on land that was razed by the occupation forces two weeks prior.

Fursa Farris Hanani, lifelong farmer and resident of Khirbet Tana, was confronted by Israeli soldiers yesterday morning as he attempted to reassemble the small stone structure that constitutes a shelter for him and his family, after its demolition by Israeli bulldozers two weeks ago. The military commander present accused Hanani of “making a challenge” for the army in his actions, by re-building on the same site as the former home. The commander informed Hanani that he was not to re-build in this area, but to move his family and their animals to another, unspecified location. The so-called challenge resulted in a hefty punishment meted out by the Israeli occupation forces – a fine of 3000 shekels and the confiscation of Hanani’s tractor, the vital tool to his and his family’s means of cultivating the land from which they survive. The commander issued a final order as the army left: that residents of Khirbet Tana generally, and the Hanani family specifically, were now only authorized to be on site during the period of Friday and Saturday. No papers were produced to verify this demand.

The bizarre punishment of confiscation of an agricultural machine and the accompanying fine has been dealt to 5 residents of Khirbet Tana since Israeli occupation forces demolished the village for the third time two weeks ago. 3 of the tractors were taken to a settlement in the Qalqilya region where they are still being held; the other 2 are in the compound of the Israeli District Co-ordination Office in the Ramallah region. Hanani states that even when he is permitted to come and collect the tractor, he will be forced to spend a further 600 shekels on the transportation of the machine from the compound outside Ramallah to Khirbet Tana in the north-west of the West Bank. “I don’t understand,” says Hanina. “I’m just trying to live here, with my family, my sheep. How is this dangerous for Irael?”

Khirbet Tana’s population, originally consisting of some 60 families, has now shrunk to only 35, the others fleeing to the neighbouring village of Beit Furik, on whose lands Khirbet Tana resides, since the demolition. Israeli efforts to ethnically cleanse the area of its Palestinian population date back to the occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the situation worsening considerably since the Oslo Accords zoning scheme of 1994 deemed the entire region Area C, under full Israeli control. The village was demolished for the first time in 2005, when Israeli bulldozers razed 14 homes, 18 animal sheds and 6 animal stores to the ground, leaving only the ancient mosque standing. Using bureaucracy as a weapon, Israeli authorities then banned residents from building permanent structures on the site of their former homes by refusing to issue the necessary permits. Ramshackle tents and prefabricated structures now dot the hillsides of Khirbet Tana, as residents are forced to adopt almost a bedouin lifestyle, fearing instant demolition at the first attempt to lay concrete or stone.

Israeli bulldozers visited Khirbet Tana a second time in May 2008, once again leaving only rubble in their wake. An objection then filed by residents to the Israeli High Court of Justice resulted in the final, non-objectionable decision to demolish all structures in Khirbet Tana and evict its entire population from their lands. This was carried out on 10 January 2010, when all 25 structures remaining in the village were once again flattened by the bulldozers of the occupation forces. Neighbouring agricultural communities such as Twiyel, east of Aqraba village, have suffered similar attacks in recent months.

Khirbet Tana’s remaining population ecks out a precarious existence in the isolated hills between Beit Furik and the Jordan Valley. Like Fursa Hanina, those who stay are determined to hold rightful claim to their land in the face of Israel’s bureaucratic and military machine, and its efforts to ethnically cleanse Palestine’s rural population.