State seeks to demolish about half of the village of Susiya before HCJ hearing

16 July 2015

In a letter sent this morning to the Civil Administration, representatives of the village of Susiya demanded that the authorities freeze all the demolitions planned over the coming days in the village. The letter was sent after it emerged that the scale of destruction the state seeks to sow in Susiya is much greater than was previously thought, and includes almost half the structures in the village. If the structures are demolished, the residents will have no way to survive in the area in conditions of extreme heat and cold. Accordingly, the action effectively constitutes the expulsion of the residents from their land.

Save Susiya!

The urgent letter was sent by the village’s legal advisors, Attorneys Quamar Mishriqi Asad and Avital Sharon, to Major Eran Gross, the deputy head of the Infrastructure Division in the Civil Administration. The letter noted that the planned demolitions constitute improper political pressure rather than a plan based on considerations of proper planning or concern for the welfare of the protected residents and public order. The demolitions Israel seeks to execute next week, after the festival of Id al-Fitr, are intended to placate the settlers, who over the years have seized the private land of residents of the village without any intervention on the part of the Civil Administration.

Last Sunday, the Coordinator of Government Actions in the Territories (COGAT) and representatives of the Civil Administration held a meeting on their initiative with residents of the village of Susiya. During the meeting, the officials threatened that due to pressure from the settlers, they would be executing demolitions in the village even prior to 3 August 2015, the date scheduled for a hearing in the petition filed by residents of the village at the High Court of Justice.

Yesterday evening, a letter from Major Gross was forwarded to the residents detailing the list of buildings the Civil Administration wants the residents to demolish. The list includes around thirty structures, including residential homes, animal shelters, the village clinic, storerooms, outhouses, etc. These structures serve 74 of the residents of Susiya, including 35 minors, and facilitate the survival of the residents. In addition, the Civil Administration included six other structures in the list in the community of Wadi Jahish, which is adjacent to the village of Susiya, despite the fact that this community does not form part of the petition. These buildings serve 17 residents, 10 of whom are minors.

Of the buildings slated for demolition by the Civil Administration, 21 were constructed with funding from European governments. The heads of all the missions of the EU member states in Palestine toured Susiya last month and urged the Israeli government to refrain from demolishing the village.

The letter quotes the opinion of Prof. Eyal Benvenisti that the planned demolition over the coming summer will constitute a grave breach of international humanitarian law, which prohibits the expulsion of protected persons: “The significance of the execution of the demolition orders that are the subject of this opinion is effective ‘transfer’ of protected residents by creating physical conditions that require the protected persons to leave the place in which they are present against their will. Following the planned demolition of the buildings, there will be no way to survive within the area of the village without shelter and other facilities ensuring the residents’ ability to survive and make a livelihood. In addition to the indirect transfer, the demolition of the buildings in the village as described above constitutes the demolition of buildings vital for the survival of the residents of the village; this, too, is prohibited.”

It should be emphasized that the demolition policy applied by the Israeli authorities in Area C, of which the planned demolition of Susiya forms part, is not based on considerations of planning, building, law and order. Rather, it constitutes the cynical manipulation of planning laws in order to restrict the presence of the Palestinian population and to expand the settlement enterprise. If the demolition is executed, this will create irreversible damage and immense suffering for the residents of Susiya. Meanwhile, the residents of the adjacent outposts, which were also built without building permits or outline plans, will continue to enjoy the support of the authorities and connection to water and electricity services, without facing threats to demolish their homes.

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Settler Violence = State Violence

Israel using Gaza war to forcibly transfer Palestinians from South Hebron Hills

Since the war in Gaza began, Israel has greatly increased its efforts to drive Palestinian shepherding communities out of their homes and land in the South Hebron Hills, including in the area designated Firing Zone 918. The communities are being subjected to unusually extreme violence on a daily level, carried out by settlers with state backing and military and police support. The attacks have been virtually incessant, with little relief. By night and by day, armed settlers have entered residents’ homes, assaulted them and overturned their belongings, taking away their mobile phones to prevent documentation. They have destroyed solar power systems and water containers, stolen livestock and in some communities, as in Khirbet Susiya, threatened to kill residents if they do not leave within a short period. For many years, Israel has sought to take control of this area by making the Palestinian residents’ lives so unbearable, they abandon their homes and land seemingly of their own accord. This strategy is two-pronged: officially, the authorities impose extreme restrictions on construction and development in these communities, and forbid them from hooking up to power and water grids; unofficially, settlers carry out systematic violence against the communities, driving shepherds away, restricting access to water sources and encroaching on pastureland. In May 2022, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled the state had the authority to declare much of the South Hebron Hills a firing zone and expel some 1,000 Palestinian residents, who have lived there for generations, long before Israel’s occupation of the West Bank in 1967. The court’s decision was given 22 years after the initial petition was filed. During that time, Israel put the residents’ lives on hold and prevented them from building homes and public structures or developing basic infrastructure such as water, electricity and roads. Since the court handed down its decision, and especially since the Netanyahu government was formed in early 2023, Israel has intensified both official and unofficial efforts. The military has added draconian measures to the existing restrictions on freedom of movement, set up new checkpoints, blocked roads with concrete cubes and dirt mounds, and confiscated vehicles from residents or people working in the area. It has also sent troops to train in the area, carrying out maneuvers that include live fire, very close to homes. Meanwhile, settlers have stepped up violent attacks aimed at damaging the residents’ livelihoods. The settlers’ attacks are carried out in the open, with state backing. The military is not only aware of them but often chooses not to intervene. Soldiers sometimes escort the settlers, providing them protection and at times even participating in the violence. Some of the settlers involved in these incidents have been enlisted for reserve military duty during the war, and are carrying them out as part of their military service. The police, as always, refrains from investigating the incidents and the harm caused to the residents, often threatening the Palestinian complainants instead. To date, the police has not arrested anyone responsible for the violent incidents, although some are well-known in the area and some incidents were documented. This reality is not new. It is a direct continuation of Israel's longstanding policy to forcibly transfer Palestinians from the area in order to gain control of the land for its own uses. Now, cynically exploiting the fact that public attention is focused on the war in Gaza, Israel has decided to escalate its efforts and appears to be succeeding. Since 7 October 2023, five communities in the South Hebron Hills have already been forcibly transferred: Khirbet a-Radhem, Khirbet Zanutah, ‘Enizan, ‘Atiriyah, and Maktal Msalam. In some cases, the residents fled without all their belongings, which were then looted and destroyed by settlers. These communities left behind their source of livelihood – pastureland and fields they cultivated to feed their livestock – in addition to wells and water cisterns that served the communities, agricultural equipment, tents, solar panels and mobile phones. The community of al-Widady was forcibly transferred before 7 October. Other area communities, including Khirbet Susiya, Maghayir al-‘Abid, al-Mufaqarah, a-Rakeez, Um al-Kheir, Sadet a-Tha’leh, Khirbet a-Tuba, Khirbet a-Safai al-Tahta, Khirbet Khallet a-Dabe’, Khirbet Jenbah, Khirbet Lasefar, Qawawis, and Khirbet Sarurah, are at risk of similar transfer. The Palestinians have no one left to defend them. Residents’ attempts at self-defense are met with more violence, arrests and even gunfire. The military and police are also trying to remove Israeli and international activists, who stay in the area to help the residents and have extensive documentation of the settlers’ actions In these circumstances, it seems only a matter of time before Israel succeeds in taking over the entire area. Apparently, it has abandoned any pretense of trying to protect Palestinian residents in the South Hebron Hills, and has decided to carry out the war crime of forcibly transferring them.

13 November 2023

קהילת ח'ירבת חומסה לאחר ההריסה, 2.2.21. צילום: עארף דראר'מה, בצלם

Communities Facing Expulsion

Israel continues policy of forcibly transferring Palestinians: Yesterday, another massive demolition at Khirbet Humsah; today, troops began extensive training among homes and fields of Masafer Yatta residents

Israel has taken two unusally broad measures this week as part of its ongoing efforts to forcibly transfer Palestinian communities in order to take over their land: The Jordan Valley Yesterday, Monday, 1 February 2021, Israeli forces confiscated most of the residential structures and livestock pens in the community of Khirbet Humsah. The community was already demolished on 3 November 2020, while the world was focused on the US elections. Yesterday, the Civil Administration dismantled and confiscated the following equipment: Thirteen tents that were home to 11 families, numbering 74 members, including 41 minors; two of the families had relocated temporarily to the Furush Beit Dajan area after their homes were demolished in November 2020. Five shacks, one not yet built, and eight tents, all used for livestock. According to community residents, Civil Administration personnel arrived in the morning, before the confiscation began, and ordered them to relocate to the area of ‘Ein Shibli, west of the al-Hamrah Checkpoint. The forces then dismantled their tents and possessions and transferred them to the checkpoint, notifying the residents that they could get them back if they undertook to relocate to the designated site. After the residents refused to comply, the equipment was confiscated and put in Civil Administration storage. To cover up the forcible transfer, military spokesmen tried to create the impression that the residents had “voluntarily agreed” to leave the area after “dialogue.” Yet when one side – Israel – has all power and can threaten defenseless Palestinians with demolition orders, bulldozers and weapons, consent is not on the cards. Rather, it is an act of coercion and violence by Israel's apartheid regime, which advances the principle of Jewish supremacy by geographically and demographically engineering space. The South Hebron Hills Today, 2 February 2021, Israel launched a large-scale military maneuver set to last two to three days, in areas it has declared firing zones in the South Hebron Hills. The military has not trained in the area for at least seven years. As in other parts of the West Bank, these areas were declared “firing zones” in order to drive local residents out of their homes and take over their land. Unlike the military, the local settlement council made no attempt to disguise the intention to expel Palestinians for alleged security reasons. In a statement sent to Jewish residents, it welcomed the training as “another way to increase governance and control over open space and to enforce law and order.” After years of no military training in the area, the decision to conduct a broad maneuver there is part of Israel's ongoing campaign to forcibly transfer Palestinians. The sudden urge to train in Masafer Yatta (South Hebron Hills) is hard to detach from the fact that a new US administration has just taken office. Is the Israeli government testing the waters to see how far it can proceed with its plans before being held accountable under the current administration? The people who came up with the idea of expelling residents on the pretext of “military training” will not suddenly grow a conscience or stop the expulsion. Yet the international community, and especially the new US administration, can – and should – make it clear to Israel that these actions will come at a significant cost.

2 February 2021

הריסת מבנה בפסאייל א-תחתא. צילום: עארף דראר'מה, בצלם, 25.11.20

Planning Policy in the West Bank

Israel commits a crime and paints Palestinians as lawbreakers: The homes of 44 Palestinians, including 22 children, were demolished yesterday in the West Bank

As part of Israel’s efforts to take over more land in the West Bank, authorities yesterday destroyed the homes of 44 Palestinians (22 of them minors) and cut off entire communities from the water supply. Some of the homes demolished yesterday were still under construction and not yet occupied. These demolitions are the extreme manifestation of Israel’s policy designed to empty entire areas of the West Bank of their Palestinian residents. Other methods routinely used by Israel are conducting military training in residential and farming areas, denying Palestinians access to land, prohibiting construction, preventing connection to basic infrastructure and confiscating property. With a month left before the end of the year, Israel has demolished the homes of more than 900 Palestinians in 2020 (the figure includes the West Bank and East Jerusalem), compared with 677 in all of 2019. Ramallah Area In the village of a-Lubban al-Gharbiyah, Ramallah District, the Civil Administration demolished the frame of a building still under construction (flooring and columns) set to house a family of eight, including six children. A shack owned and used by another resident as a car repair shop was also demolished. Jordan Valley In Fasayil a-Tahta in the northern Jordan Valley, the Civil Administration: Confiscated two frames for shacks set to house an extended family of seven, including two children. The structures were donated by a humanitarian aid organization after the Civil Administration demolished their residential shacks in previous months. Demolished two shacks housing a family of ten, including four children, as well as a kitchen, an outhouse, livestock pens, a fence and an electrical grid. Demolished eight shacks used by two families, including an outhouse, an animal feed storeroom, a stable, a chicken coop and communal cooking ovens. It also destroyed animal feed. In the Tell a-Samadi community northwest of al-Jiftlik, the Civil Administration confiscated a shack housing a couple as well as a structure used as an outhouse and a water tank donated to the couple by a humanitarian aid organization after forces demolished their shack, outhouse and plastic water tank on 21 October 2020. Masafer Yatta (South Hebron Hills) In Khirbet a-Rakeez, the Civil Administration demolished two residential structures housing a family of six, including three children, and an agricultural structure used by another family in the community. In Khirbet a-Sarurah, the Civil Administration demolished an outhouse owned by a member of the community. In Khirbet Khilet a-Dabe’, two residential structures still under construction were demolished. They were meant to house two families numbering a total of 11 people, including seven children. A structure housing a toilet and a kitchen was also demolished. In Maghayir al-‘Abid, two farming structures and an outhouse owned by a local resident were demolished. Civil Administration personnel cut a 2-kilometer water pipe servicing the communities of al-Fakhit, a-Safai, Maghayir al-‘Abid and a-Taban. The water main cost close to 100,000 Euro, and it was donated by humanitarian organizations. The Civil Administration had already destroyed the water main into Masafer Yatta in February of 2019. It has been restored since, but in October this year, the Civil Administration damaged an internal water pipe servicing the communities of Maghayir al-‘Abid and Khirbet al-Majaz. In Khirbet Jinba, a water tank and part of a wire fence were destroyed, and four olive trees were uprooted. As of late November 2020, at least 919 Palestinians have lost their homes, including at least 460 minors. By comparison, in all of 2019, 677 Palestinians lost their homes, while the numbers for 2018 and 2017 are 397 and 521, respectively. Israel also demolished 330 non-residential structures and facilities over the course of 2020, including humanitarian infrastructure such as cisterns and water and electricity infrastructure that are essential. The demolitions were conducted, once again, just ahead of a significant winter weather system and during a pandemic. Earlier this month, on the eve of the US elections, Israel destroyed the entire community of Khirbet Humsah in the Jordan Valley, in the largest such demolition in a decade. Israel persists in this policy of forcible transfer, bolstered by judgments delivered by its courts, particularly the Supreme Court, and a flaccid response from the international community. Demolitions manifest just one aspect of this criminal policy that will not end until rebuke and demands for compensation are replaced by truly holding Israel accountable for its actions. Attempts to address this policy by other means have ended in failure - failure whose ruins are scattered throughout the West Bank.

26 November 2020