Facing Expulsion

On Thursday, 20 July 2023, at around 11:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel and a soldier arrived at Khirbet Yarza in the northern Jordan Valley and confiscated a tractor and a car belonging to the Abu Daher family, claiming they had been brought into Firing Zone 901. The two drove the vehicles to a military base near Khirbet Samrah. 

From there, the two went to Khirbet Humsah al-Foqa, confiscated two tractors belonging to the Abu al-Kabash family that were parked near the family home, claiming they had been brought into Firing Zone 903. The two ordered the family members to drive the tractors to a nearby military base. 

On Monday, 8 February 2021, at around 9:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort, a bulldozer, and two trucks at the community of Khirbet Yarza, which also lies in the northern Jordan Valley. The forces demolished two prefabs that served as the home of two families numbering 11 people, including seven minors. They also demolished a shack used to house livestock. In late September 2020, the forces demolished the homes of the same families. Since then, Humanitarian aid organizations have donated the new prefabs to the families. In January 2021, The Civil Administration delivered them a warning order to stop destroying antiquities.  

On Sunday morning, 24 January 2021, Civil Administration personnel came with a military jeep to the community of Khirbet Yarza in the northern Jordan Valley. The forces delivered a demolition order pursuant to Military Order 1797 for two pre-fabs owned by two families numbering 10 people in total, including six children. The same two pre-fabs were served with a warning to cease the destruction of antiquities on 6 January 2021.

The forces then continued north to the community of ‘Ein al-Meyteh, where they delivered stop work orders for a tent used by a family of four, including two children, as a residence, and three more of the family’s tents, one used as a kitchen and the other two as livestock enclosures. The forces then went to the community of Dar ‘Awad, near which the al-Hamra checkpoint was installed, and delivered a stop work order for a shack used by a local resident as a livestock enclosure. .

On Wednesday night, 6 January 2021, at around 9:00 P.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a police escort to the community of Khirbet Yarza. The forces delivered a warning to cease the destruction of antiquities for two pre-fabs which were home to two families, numbering 10 people in total, including six children. The pre-fabs had been donated to the families by humanitarian aid organizations after authorities demolished their homes in late September 2020.

On Friday evening, 8 January 2021, at around 6:00 P.M., soldiers came to the village of Furush Beit Dajan. They confiscated a digger and a tractor from a village resident, who was using them to repair the pathway leading to his home. The forces ordered the owner and another resident to drive the vehicles to a nearby military camp.

On Sunday morning, 10 January 2021, at around 10:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military jeep to eastern Khirbet ‘Atuf. The forces confiscated a truck owned by a Tubas resident that was being used for repairs to an agricultural path funded by the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture. From there, they continued north to Khirbet a-Ras al-Ahmar, where they delivered a demolition order by power of Military Order 1797 for a tent meant to house a resident.

The next morning, Monday, 11 January 2021, at around 11:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a police escort to the village of a-Nassariyah in Nablus District. They confiscated a digger and a bulldozer from a resident who was repairing pathways in the area. The forces loaded the bulldozer onto a tow truck and ordered the resident to drive the digger to the al-Hamra Checkpoint.

The same day, at around 5:00 P.M., soldiers came to the village of Cardalah and confiscated a water container and an agricultural roller owned by a construction company, which were being used to repair pathways inside the village. The forces ordered the two drivers to drive the container and the roller to the nearby settlement of Mehola.

Today, Tuesday, September 29, 2020, at around 4:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military jeep escort, a bulldozer and a crane truck to the Palestinian community of Khirbet Jib’it in Ramallah District. The forces demolished two cisterns and confiscated two water containers belonging to an extended family from the community. .

Later this morning, at around 9:00, Civil Administration personnel came with a military jeep escort and two bulldozers to Khirbet Yarza in the northern Jordan Valley and demolished the homes of two families, numbering 10 people in total, including six minors. Last week, on 21 September 2020, the Civil Administration delivered the families demolition orders by power of Military Order 1797. Ahead of the demolition, the families took their belongings out of their homes and dismantled their roofs. The forces also delivered one of the families a demolition order for a tent used for storage, and confiscated the vehicles of a Palestinian TV crew documenting the demolition.

Last Sunday, 27 September 2020, at around 12:00 P.M., soldiers arrived at Khirbet ‘Atuf in the northern Jordan valley and confiscated a van and portable welding machine owned by a resident of al-Far’ah, which laborers were using to upgrade the community’s water network on behalf of the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC). The forces detained the laborers and drove them to the Sa’ura military camp, where they were held for several hours and released.

On Thursday, 24 September 2020, at around 9:00 A.M., a resident of Nab’ al-Ghazal , a community in the al-Farisiyah area, found an expropriation order and maps lying on a rock at the entrance to the community, apparently placed there by Civil Administration officials. According to the order, 1,600 square meters of land within the community that belong to a resident of Tubas will be expropriated due to the expansion of Israeli water facilities nearby. These facilities provide water only to settlers and the military, and not to Palestinian residents of the area.

On Monday morning, 21 September 2020, at around 9:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military jeep escort to the Palestinian community of Khirbet Yarza in the northern Jordan Valley. The force handed two families, numbering 10 people in total, including six minors, demolition orders for their homes: two structures made of concrete, stone and tin. The demolition orders were issued by power of military order 1797. On 9 September 2020, the forces delivered one of the families a warning order to stop destroying antiquities.

Later that Monday, at around 4:00 P.M., Civil Administration personnel returned to Khirbet Yarza and confiscated a water container being used to fix the community’s access road. The following evening, 15 September 2020, Civil Administration personnel came with an escort of military jeeps, police officers and Israel Nature and Parks Authority  staff to the community of Khirbet Ibzik in the northern Jordan Valley. They surrounded a plot owned by a resident of Tubas, confiscated his car and a digger owned by a resident of Meithalun, and ordered the two owners to drive the confiscated vehicles to the Tayasir military base. The force also delivered a warning order to stop destroying antiquities to a resident of al-‘Aqabah who cultivates land in Ibzik, and forced him to dismantle a tent he had set up for agricultural uses.

At ~4:00 P.M. yesterday (14 Aug. 2018), Civil Administration personnel, accompanied by a military jeep, came to Khirbet Yarza in the northern Jordan Valley and ordered a Palestinian family to leave home by 6:00 A.M. the next morning. This is the third time the family has been ordered to leave this month, after receiving temporary orders on 1 August ordering evacuation on three dates. The family moved to relatives in the village of Tubas. Three families from Tubas, which cultivate land in Khirbet Yarza, were also evacuated from the area.

At about 4:00 P.M. on Thursday, 9 August 2018, Civil Administration personnel, accompanied by a military jeep, came to Khirbet Yarza in the northern Jordan Valley and ordered a Palestinian family to leave its home by 6:00 A.M. the next morning. This is the second time that the Civil Administration has ordered the family to leave its home, after it delivered temporary orders on 1 August 2018 ordering the family to evacuate its home on three dates. Using a tractor and a private car, the family moved to a house belonging to their relatives in the village of Tubas, approximately five kilometers northwest of Khirbet Yarza. Three families from Tubas, which own farmland in Khirbet Yarza, were also evacuated from the area. After the families left the area, a Civil Administration officer ordered B'Tselem field researcher ‘Aref Dagharmeh and a crew from Palestine Television, who were documenting the evacuation, to come to Tayaseer checkpoint, where soldiers detained them all for about three hours.

Yesterday, 6 August 2018, at about 4:00 P.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military-jeep escort at Khirbet Yarza, in the northern Jordan Valley, and ordered a Palestinian family to leave its home by 6:00 A.M. the next morning. The Civil Administration handed the family temporary evacuation orders on Wednesday, 1 August 2018 ordering them to leave their home on three different dates. Using a tractor and a private car, the family moved to a house belonging to their relatives in the neighboring village of Tubas. Later yesterday night, tanks and armored vehicles held exercises close to the family’s home and fired mortars. Three other families from Tubas, which own farmland in Khirbet Yarza, managed to irrigate their fields and feed their livestock before the Civil Administration personnel arrived.

At 10:00 A.M. on Wednesday, 1 August 2018, Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military-jeep escort at Khirbet Yarza, in the northern Jordan Valley, and handed temporary evacuation orders to a family of eight that includes three children. According to the orders, the family is forbidden to be at home from 4:00 P.M to 6:00 P.M. the next morning on the following dates: 6-7, 9-10 and 14-15 August. The orders will also prevent three families from Tubas, which own farmland in Khirbet Yarza, from working their fields and tending to their flocks on the above dates.

As of Jan. 2016 Israeli authorities stepped up efforts to expel Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills, Ma’ale Adumim area and the Jordan Valley, demolishing 73 homes and 51 other structures, some donated by aid agencies. Israel recently announced plans to demolish many more structures in Kh. Susiya, expel Abu a-Nuwar’s residents, and reported its failed mediation with Masafer Yatta. All are part of a policy whereby Area C is to serve Israel rather than West Bank Palestinians. Restrictions Israel imposes in Area C force all West Bank Palestinians to live in crowded enclaves without land reserves for building, farming, infrastructure, health and education services or freedom of movement.

From 12 to 14 Jan.2016, B'Tselem documented Civil Administration harassment of five Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley, in continuation of efforts to force Palestinians out of Area C. In Kh. ‘Ein Karzaliyah, structures were photographed, apparently ahead of repeat demolitions; in Kh. ‘Einun, forces destroyed agricultural structures and a water reservoir; and in Yarza and Kh. a-Ras al-Ahmar, families were informed that they would again be displaced for military training.