On Monday, 10 July 2023, the Palestinian Bedouin shepherding community of al-Baq’ah, to the east of Ramallah, was forcibly transferred. In the days leading up to Monday, settlers from an outpost next to al-Baq’ah, one of seven established after the pogrom in Turmusaya on 21 June 2023, attacked the community daily. On Friday, 7 July 2023, a tent home in the community was set on fire while no one was in. The community of al-Baq’ah was home to 33 people, including 21 minors. The residents, who disassembled their homes and livestock enclosures yesterday, told B’Tselem field researchers that they feared for their lives and there was no one to protect them. Because of this, and having no other choice, they decided to leave the place they called home for decades. The outpost that settlers established 50 meters away from the community’s homes is a farm with 60 to 70 sheep and two horses. The settlers set up solar panels and connected the outpost to the water infrastructure of the Neve Erez settlement, which was established in 2001, some 100 meters north of al-Baq’ah. They took control of the only road connecting al-Baq’ah to the nearby Alon Route, and have been grazing their sheep in the pasturelands that served the al-Baq’ah community and harassing shepherds from the Mleihat family, who grazed their sheep in the area. On Friday, 7 July 2023, at around 6:30 A.M., a tent home located 100 meters from the outpost, was set on fire. The family living in the tent had been sleeping in another tent belonging to the extended family out of fear that settlers would harass them at night. The family saw the fire from a distance and called the police, but no officers came. Israel has created an impossible reality and untenable life for residents, and Israel bears sole responsible for their expulsion. Read more...
On Thursday, 6 July 2023, at around 7:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and a crane truck at the community of Wadi Abu Hindy, southeast of the town of al-‘Eizariyah, al-Quds District. The forces confiscated a shipping container used as a livestock enclosure.
On Thursday, 22 June 2023, at around 10:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and a bulldozer at the community of Khirbet al-Maleh (Hamamat al-Maleh) in the northern Jordan Valley. The forces demolished two houses under construction funded by a humanitarian aid organization. One of the houses was designed to house a family of six, including four minors. The other was meant for a newlywed couple. The demolition was carried out pursuant to Military Order No. 1797.
On Thursday, 15 June 2023, at around 9:00 A.M., Civil Administration and Jordan Valley settlement regional council personnel arrived with a military escort and a bulldozer at the community of Khirbet Um al-Jamal in the northern Jordan Valley. The forces dismantled and confiscated four dwellings donated to the residents by a humanitarian organization, as well as sunshades belonging to four other families.
On Tuesday, 13 June 2023, at around 8:00 A.M. Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort, a digger and a bulldozer at a car lot in the village of ‘Ein ad-Duyuk a-Tahta in the Jordan Valley. The forces crushed and confiscated 88 cars, 80 of which had no license plate and eight had Palestinian license plates, as well as a shed used to store spare parts.
On Tuesday, 6 June 2023, at around 5:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and a bulldozer at the community of Tublas, which lies next to the main road between Hizma and ‘Anata, north of Jerusalem. The forces demolished a farmers’ break room, destroyed a water tank and uprooted 70 fruit tree seedlings, on agricultural land that supports the livelihoods of 18 people. The forces also demolished a caravan the family had used as a diwan (a structure used for entertaining).
On Tuesday, 6 June 2023, at around 7:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a soldier and Border Police escort and a bulldozer at the community of Kh. Tatrit (‘Arab al-Freijat) in the South Hebron Hills and demolished a tent and a masonry structure used by a young couple for agricultural purposes.
On Friday, 2 June 2023, at around 11:00 A.M., agents of the Jordan Valley settlement regional council came to the community of Khirbet Um al-Jamal in the northern Jordan valley with a military escort and confiscated a car belonging to a resident of the village of Tayasir, claiming it had been brought into a closed military zone. The council personnel ordered the owner of the car to drive it to the nearby settlement of Maskiyyot and leave it there.
On Monday, 29 May 2023, at around 8:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort and a digger at Sama Ariha area in eastern Jericho and demolished a two-story vacation home owned by an East Jerusalem family.
On 22 May 2023, the last remaining residents of the community of ‘Ein Samia dismantled their homes and their sheep pens and left what had been their home for decades. For years, the community’s approximately 200 residents had been subjected to extreme restrictions on construction of both homes and infrastructure, which included the demolition of residential and agricultural structures. They also suffered from violence carried out by Israeli security forces and by settlers living in outposts built in the area, who enjoyed full state support. Families began leaving the community because of this harassment in late 2018. Since 2019, Israel has demolished 18 structures in the community, including six homes that housed 41 people, 18 of them minors. The most recent demolition was carried out in January of this year, and a demolition order issued by the Civil Administration for the community’s school has been upheld by the court. Read more...
On 22 May 2023, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort at the community of Khirbet Um al-Jamal in the northern Jordan Valley and delivered demolition orders for the homes of seven families in the community.
On Monday, 22 May 2023, at around 10:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived at an area south of Khirbet Ma’in in the South Hebron Hills with a military and Border Police escort, a digger and a bulldozer. The forces demolished a tent used as a residence by a family of seven, including five minors, and a residential structure still under construction owned by a different family. That day, at around 1:00 P.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived at an area south of Khirbet a-Zuweidin in the South Hebron Hills with a military and Border Police escort and a digger. The forces demolished an agricultural water cistern.
Jordan Valley: On Wednesday, 25 November 2020, at around 9:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military jeep escort, police officers, two bulldozers and a truck crane at the village of Fayasil a-Tahta in the northern Jordan Valley. The forces dismantled and confiscated the foundations of two shacks intended to house an extended family of seven, including two children. The shacks were donated to the family by a humanitarian aid organization after the Civil Administration demolished their homes last September. Later, the forces demolished two shacks that housed a family of ten, four of them children, as well as a kitchen, a cement outhouse, and two metal-plated tin-roofed shacks that the family used to raise livestock. The forces also destroyed a fence and disconnected the shacks’ electricity grid. In addition, the forces demolished ten shacks that were used by two families and included a toilet, fodder storage, stables, a chicken coop and tabun ovens. They also destroyed wheat and almond husks that were used as livestock fodder.
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Demolition of structure in Fasayil a-Tahta. Photo by 'Aref Daraghmeh, B'Tselem, 25 Nov. 2020
At around midday, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military jeep escort and a crane truck at the community of Tal a-Smadi, northwest of the village of al-Jiftlik in the Jordan Valley. The forces dismantled and confiscated a shack that was home to a couple, as well as an outhouse and a water container donated to them by a humanitarian aid organization after the forces demolished the same structures on 21 October 2020.
Masafer Yatta, South Hebron Hills: The same day, around 9:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with Border Police officers at the community of Khirbet a-Rakeez in the Masafer Yatta area of the South Hebron Hills and demolished two structures that were home to a family of six, including three children. They also demolished a structure used for agriculture that belonged to another family in the community. The forces continued south to Khirbet a-Sarurah, where they demolished an outhouse owned by a community resident. They then continued further south to the community of Khirbet Khallet a-Dabe’, where they demolished two structures under construction intended for two families, numbering 11 people in total, including seven children, and another structure that contained a toilet and a kitchen. From there, they went to the community of Mughayir al-‘Abid, where they demolished two structures used for agriculture that belonged to a community resident. The forces also cut and destroyed a two-kilometer water line servicing the communities of al-Fakhit, a-Safai, Mughayir al-‘Abid and a-Taban. The water line, donated by humanitarian organizations, cost almost 100,000 EUR to install. The Civil Administration already destroyed Masafer Yatta’s main water supply pipeline in February 2019, but it has since been restored. In October 2020, the Civil Administration destroyed a local pipeline servicing the communities of Mughayir al-‘Abid and Khirbet al-Majaz.
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Demolition of structure in Masafer Yatta. Photo by Nasser Nawaj'ah, B'Tselem, 25 Nov. 2020
Finally, the forces arrived at the community of Khirbet Jenbah, where they destroyed a plastic water container a community resident placed on his farmland to water his olive grove. In order to make their way to the container, the forces uprooted four olive trees and demolished a wire fence around the plot. Some of the demolished structures were donated to the communities by humanitarian aid organizations.
The same day, Israel demolished a house under construction in a-Lubban a-Gharbiyah, Ramallah District At around 6:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with soldiers, police officers and a bulldozer at the village of a-Lubban a-Gharbiyah in Ramallah District. The forces demolished the foundation of a structure under construction (a floor and posts) intended for a family of eight, including six children. They also demolished a shack owned by another resident that was used for storage. The demolitions were carried out by power of Military Order 1797.
