This morning, May 25, 2015, Civil Administration officials arrived at the Ibziq community in the Jordan Valley and told residents they had to evacuate their homes for the entire day on Tuesday, May 26, 2015, from 6:00 AM to midnight. This is the second time over the past month that residents have been told to evacuate due to military training.
In April 2015 the Civil Administration ordered hundreds of Palestinians in the northern Jordan Valley to leave their homes temporarily to enable military training. They suffered rough conditions and financial losses, including dead livestock and cultivated fields trampled or ruined by fire. In recent years the military has deliberately stepped up training in the Jordan Valley to harass Palestinians living in the 46% of the Jordan Valley Israel has declared “firing zones”. Israel must stop the temporary evacuation of communities for training and abandon all other steps to get Palestinians to leave the area.
A Civil Administration representative accompanied by soldiers arrived this morning at Khirbet Susiya, the South Hebron Hills and photographed and measured structures there. Based on past experience, residents fear the CA is preparing to demolish the village shortly and eject them from their land. This further to Justice Sohlberg’s decision to not issue an interim injunction on demolitions as sought by the residents in a petition that argued that the CA rejected their master plan for immaterial reasons. This harsh, unlawful move is part of Israel’s policy in Area C to facilitate the takeover of Palestinian land for settlements and the removal of Palestinian communities from Area C to Areas A and B in preparation for the annexation of lands to Israel.
At any moment, the Civil Administration might demolish all homes in the Khirbet Susiya, expelling the residents from their land. This follows a High Court decision not to issue an interim order to prevent the demolition, given in a petition filed by the residents and Rabbis for Human Rights arguing that the CA rejected their master plan for unprofessional reasons, using a double standard and discrimination against Palestinians. This cruel, illegal move is part of Israel’s policy in Area C to facilitate annexation of lands to Israel.
1 April 2015مدرسة الخان الاحمر, Khan al-Ahmar school, Khan al-Ahmar (Abu al-Hilu)
Representatives of the Civil Administration came this afternoon to the Palestinian community of Khan al-Ahmar in the West Bank, north of the Ma'ale Adummim settlement, and began dismantling 11 energy production solar panels. These panels provide electricity to the community and to its school, which serves children from all Bedouin communities in the area. They were assembled over the past three months, and two of them only today. B'Tselem's field researcher is currently on location documenting the dismantling and confiscation activities.
18 March 2015خلة مكحول, Khallet Makhul, Khallet Makhul
This morning, Civil Administration bulldozers returned to the Jordan Valley, demolishing the homes of four families and farming structures in Khallet Makhul and a farming structure in the village of al-Hadidiyah. The Administration also confiscated two waters tanks in the 200-person village of al-Farisiyah, which is not connected to a water supply network. A more detailed report will follow B'Tselem's investigation of the incidents.
Mar. 4, Israeli authorities demolished all structures in Khirbet ‘Ein Karzaliyah in the northern Jordan Valley, for the second time this year. Bulldozers raked the dirt road leading to the community, preventing access by car. This cruel harassment of a particularly vulnerable population is part of Israel’s policy aimed at displacing thousands of Palestinians from communities throughout Area C. B'Tselem urges Israel to allow residents of Khirbet ‘Ein Karzaliyah to remain where they have lived and grazed their flocks for 25 years without interference.
On 29 Jan. 2015, the Civil Administration dismantled water pipes recently installed for the small shepherding community of Khirbet Yarza in the Jordan Valley and confiscated the parts. Before the installation, the community relied on rainwater and private water purchase. This is one measure of several taken by Israeli authorities to relocate thousands of Palestinians living in Area C. As the occupying power in the West Bank, Israel must allow residents to maintain their lifestyle, permit them to build legally, and provide them water and electricity.
22 January 2015خ. عين كرزلية, Kh. 'Ein Karzaliyah, Kh. 'Ein Karzaliyah
This morning, Civil Administration bulldozers again demolished all the community’s structures, including the five tents in which the families were living. This is the fourth time that these families have been left homeless since January 2014. Previous demolitions took place in January, February and April 2014 (when only some of the residential tents were destroyed).
22 January 2015الكعابنة, Al-Kaabneh Wadi al-Qalt, Wadi al-Qalt (al-Kaabneh)
On 12 Jan. 2015, the Civil Administration ordered all 15 families in the al-Ka’abneh community to leave in 48 hours due to “recent incursion into state land”. Att. Shlomo Lecker filed an objection on behalf of the families, who have lived near Wadi Qelt since 1983, after twice being evicted from future settlement sites. The Administration must enable Bedouin communities to maintain their lifestyle, plan independently and build legally, as well as connect them to infrastructure and provide them with basic health and education services.
8 January 2015خ. ام الجمال, Kh. Um al-Jmal, Kh. Um al-Jamal
On 1 January 2015, with clear forecasts of an impending storm, the Israeli military and Civil Administration demolished the tents and some of the property of five families in Khirbet Um al-Jamal, a shepherding community in the Jordan Valley. Thirty individuals, including 22 minors, were left exposed to the elements, yet authorities did not arrange for alternate housing. The Red Crescent and the PA provided replacement tents, but these do not offer adequate shelter from the rain. In the course of the storm, Israeli human rights NGO MachsomWatch took it upon itself to supply plastic sheeting to the residents to weatherproof the tents. In February 2014 we reported the demolition of all structures in this community by Israeli authorities.
1 October 2014خ. الطويل, Kh. al-Twayel, Kh. al-Twayel
On 29 Sept. 2014, the Civil Administration destroyed the internal power grid of the Khirbet a-Twayel shepherding community in the Jordan Valley. The community, which numbers 113 permanent residents, including 62 children, and another 100 or so seasonal residents, has lived on the spot for dozens of years and most of its structures were built before 1967. Civil Administration representatives sawed down dozens of electricity poles and cut their wires. The demolition is part of ongoing efforts to expel dozens of Palestinian shepherding communities from Area C and take over their land.
Demolition without borders: Israel demolishes mobile clinic serving 450, as well as agricultural structures in South Hebron Hills and agricultural pool in northern Jordan Valley
On Monday, 12 July 2021, at around 8:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military escort and three bulldozers to the town of Bani Na’im in Hebron District. The forces demolished about 200 square meters of agricultural terraces, a fence put up at the village entrance and a shed used for storing agricultural equipment. From there, the forces continued south to the communities of Khirbet Um Qusa and ‘Abdiyeh in the Um Daraj area. They confiscated a prefab set up by residents, which served as a clinic run by Doctors Without Borders, serving over 400 residents.
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Ruins of the agricultural pool in Bardalah Marah. Photo by 'Aref Daraghmeh, B'Tselem, 13 July 2021
At the same time, at around 8:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military escort and a bulldozer to the agricultural area of Bardalah Marah, which extends about a kilometer from the Bardalah village center, and demolished an agricultural pool. The pool was built in cooperation between the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture, and was used to irrigate the crops of several area farmers.
These are not exceptional cases. Rather, they are part of Israel’s routine harassment of Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills and northern Jordan Valley, in a bid to expel them from their homes and area of residence.
