Demolitions and confiscations in communities facing expulsion

On 1 August 2022, at around 7:00 A.M., Jordan Valley Settlement Council personnel blocked the path of a forklift and a tractor with a trailer cart used to erect poles and spread nets in a banana grove east of the community of Khirbet Ras al-Ahmar. The council personnel summoned soldiers to the scene, who detained the driver and the owner of the vehicles for about six hours and then confiscated the vehicles, put them on a tow truck and led them to a military camp in the area.

On 31 July 2022, Jordan Valley Settlement Council personnel arrived at a quarry near the village of al-‘Auja in the Jordan valley and summoned soldiers to the scene. The soldiers confiscated a vehicle, cart and digger and led them to a military camp in the area.

On 28 July 2022, Jordan Valley Settlement Council personnel arrived with a military escort and an Israel Police vehicle at two vegetable stalls along Route 60, near the village of ‘Ein al-Beida and Bardalah, and confiscated the goods from the stalls, belonging to two Palestinian area residents. At the beginning of the month, the council personnel had already confiscated the goods of one of the vendors.

On Thursday, 28 July 2022, at around 12:20 P.M., soldiers erected a flying checkpoint between Khirbet al-Markaz and Khirbet Jenbah in Masafer Yatta and confiscated three vehicles. Members of the Palestinian-Israeli non-profit Comet-ME were traveling in one of the cars on their way to perform maintenance on solar panels in the community. In another car, a father was driving his six-year-old son back from an activity held by the YMCA at a school in Khirbet Jenbah for about 30 children from the two communities. The third car carried equipment used for the activity.

The drivers were ordered to drive the vehicles to a military base in the area, where their passengers were detained until 4:00 P.M.

On 24 July 2022, Jordan Valley Settlement Council vehicles entered the community of Khirbet al-Farisiyah. Council personnel summoned soldiers to the scene who confiscated a truck transporting fertilizer to area farmers and led it to a military camp in the area.

On Monday, 25 July 2022, at around 9:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military and Border Police escort and equipped with a bulldozer, digger, and truck to the community of Birin, northeast of the town of Yatta in Hebron District. The forces demolished the summer house of a family of six, including four minors.

From there, the forces continued south to the village of al-Buweib in the South Hebron Hills, where they dismantled and confiscated a rest tent belonging to farmers.

The forces then continued southeast to Khirbet Um Qusa, where they demolished the home of a family of six, including four minors, by power of Military Order 1797. The forces hurled two stun grenades at villagers who were protesting the demolition. In addition, the forces confiscated a minibus, ordered the driver to drive it to the settlement of Carmel and detained him.

On 24 July 2022, Jordan Valley settlements regional council personnel and soldiers who accompanied them chased Palestinian vehicles transporting water for watering flocks in al-Hadidiyah community. The forces confiscated two tractors and a water trailer and drove them to one of the settlements in the area.

On 22 July 2022, Jordan Valley settlement regional Council personnel arrived at the ‘Ein Shibli area while a digger was performing agricultural work and summoned soldiers to the scene. The soldiers confiscated the digger and ordered the driver to the settlement of Massu’a near the village of al-Jiftlik.

On Monday, 19 July 2022, at around 10:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military and Border Police escort, a bulldozer, crane and pickup truck with a trailer at the area of ‘Ein al-Beida in the community of al-Jawaya, southeast of the town of Yatta in the South Hebron Hills. The forces demolished the home of a family of three, demolished and confiscated three tents, two of which were used as livestock enclosures and one as a rent tent, and confiscated three water containers owned by shepherds. 

The community was established in the late 1960s by residents that Israel had expelled from the South Hebron Hills, on private lands owned by the residents of the villages of Kfar Malek and al-Mughayir. In 2020, about 120 people lived in the village and made a living by herding sheep. Over the next two years, additional seasonal herding communities were established near it, al-Kabun and Wadi a-Dahlia, and the total number of residents in these communities reached 280. 

In 1975, the settlement of Kochav HaShahar was established nearby. Over the years, the residents of the community suffered harassment by Israeli authorities, including the demolition of the homes of six families in 2021. In 2018, the outpost "Micha's Farm" was established two kilometers away from the community. Since then, the members of the community have suffered from verbal abuse, harassment, theft, and vandalism of property. 

In 2020, the residents of the community established a school for their children, who had until then been forced to walk a long distance to the schools in al-Mughayir, but the Civil Administration issued demolition orders that same year and confiscated equipment intended for the expansion of the school, including chairs used by the students, just four days after the beginning of the school year. 

The violence increased in 2022 under the auspices of the military and, in the beginning of July of that year, the residents of the community decided to leave their place of residence after realizing that they would no longer be able to make a living from shepherding in this area and that their lives were in danger. Read more...