Demolitions and confiscations in communities facing expulsion

On Sunday, 7 May 2023, at around 7:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort, a digger and a bulldozer at the village of al-Jiftlik in the Jordan Valley and demolished a concrete structure used for entertaining.  The forces then continued southward to the Fasayil area in the northern Jordan Valley, where, at around 9:00 A.M., they demolished a cinder-block barn by virtue of Military Order 1797 and destroyed some of the fodder that was stored in it.  The forces then continued farther south to the al-’Auja area, where, at around 10:30 A.M., they demolished two homes under construction owned by an extended family and designed to house seven people in total, including two minors. 

On Sunday, 7 May 2023, at around 4:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military escort, a digger, a bulldozer, trucks and a crane, to the school in the community of Jub a-Dib. The forces demolished the school, which serves 42 students, and confiscated a structure used as a storage room as well as furniture, appliances and electronics: 40 chairs, 10 desks, two office desks, two refrigerators, a computer, a TV and a printer.

On Wednesday, 10 May 2023, at around 4:30 P.M., Civil Administration personnel returned to the wreckage of the school with a military escort and confiscated two tents local residents had set up as temporary classrooms and about 40 chairs and declared the school a closed military zone.

The Civil Administration demolished the community’s school once before on 22 August 2017, and it was rebuilt by community residents.

On Thursday, 30 March 2023, at around 8:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a Border Police and military escort and a digger at the community of a-Nuweimeh al-Foqa, north of Jericho, and demolished a home under construction intended for a family of 11, including 4 minors.

On Monday, 6 March 2023, at around 9:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a Border Police escort and a digger to the village of She’b al-Batem in the South Hebron Hills and demolished the homes of 4 families, leaving 36 people, 12 of them minors, homeless. The forces also demolished an outhouse and vandalized two water tanks. The structures were donated to the families by ACTED after the Civil Administration demolished their homes on 3 January 2023.

On Thursday, 2 March 2023, at around 9:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort, a bulldozer and digger to the town of Idhna, west of Hebron, and demolished the home of a family numbering 8 people, 6 of them minors, leaving the family homeless.

On Wednesday, 1 March 2023, at around 8:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military escort and a digger to the village of Furush Beit Dajan in the central Jordan Valley, and demolished the home of 6 people, 4 of them minors. Part of the structure was donated to the family by a humanitarian aid organization.

On Sunday, 26 February 2023, at around 1:00 P.M., officials from the Jordan Valley settlement regional council arrived at Kh. Humsah a-Tahta, Jordan Valley, with a military and Israel Police escort and ordered members of a family engaged in fixing their tents to stop working. When they refused, the settlement regional council officials threatened to demolish their tents and demanded the keys to their tractors. When the residents refused this as well, an altercation erupted, including mutual shoving, and one regional council official pepper sprayed three family members in the face. One member of the family required medical attention and was taken to a clinic in the village of al-Jiftlik once the Israeli forces left.

The soldiers confiscated two tractors and towed them away, and a settlement council staff member drove away the family’s car. The vehicles were taken to a military base near the settlement of Hamra.



Ahmad Abu Seif, 48, a father of six, described what happened that day in the testimony he gave B’Tselem field researcher ‘Aref Daraghmeh:

On 11 November 2022, Civil Administration personnel and soldiers confiscated my tractor and my brother Fadel’s tractor. We only managed to get it back about two months later, after paying about 2,000 NIS (1 NIS = about USD 0.28). On Sunday, 26 February 2023, at around 1:00 P.M., people from the settlement council showed up with four soldiers and a police car. They came into the tens we were fixing up and threatened that if we didn’t stop, they’d demolish them.

We refused, and then we got into a shouting match with the soldiers and the settlers. They wanted to confiscate our tractors and demanded we hand over the keys. We refused and tried to unhook a water trailer that was hooked up to one of the tractors, and then they started pushing us, and we pushed them back. During the confrontation, one of the settlement council members came up and pepper sprayed my brother Fadel (62), who has kidney problems, in the face, as well as two other family members.

The soldiers towed the tractors away and confiscated them. They also confiscated our car, which the settlement councilman drove away. The soldiers also arrested Naser (40), Fadel’s son, took him to a military base near the Hamra settlement and detained him there for about half an hour and then let him go.

My brother Fadel, who was really suffering from inhaling the pepper spray, was taken by ambulance to the medical center in al-Jiftlik.

I don’t know if we’ll be able to get our tractors back again. The Israelis don’t want us here. We’re in a terrible state mentally, adults and children. All the money we manage to save goes to pay fines.

On Wednesday, 22 February 2023, at around 9:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military and Border Police escort and a digger at the Palestinian community of ‘Ein a-Duyuk a-Tahta in the Jordan Valley and demolished a two-story vacation home.

On Wednesday, 22 February 2022, at around 7:30 A.M., Jerusalem Municipality personnel arrived with a Border Police escort, a bulldozer and a digger at the neighborhood of ‘Ein al-Jawizeh located in the part of the village of al-Walajah that was annexed to Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries. The forces demolished the home of a family of three, leaving them homeless.

They then continued to the neighborhood of Khilet al-Hawar, also in the part of the village annexed to Jerusalem, where they demolished a two-story, two-unit building still under construction designed to house two families numbering eight people in total, including two minors and another house under construction designed to house newlyweds in the future. The forces also demolished a wall and part of the roof of an unused shack next to the house. 

Israel annexed part of the village of al-Walajah to Jerusalem, but does not provide the village services and denies residents building permits, leaving them no choice but to build illegally. Dozens of homes are now under threat of demolition.

On Wednesday, 15 Feb. 2023, at around 10:30 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort, a bulldozer and a digger to the village of She’b al-Batem in the South Hebron Hills and demolished an agricultural structure. The Civil Administration demolished the family’s home on 3 Jan. 2023, along with three other homes.

From there, the forces continued to Khirbet Khallet a-Dabe' in Masafer Yatta, where they uprooted about 50 olive trees belonging to a community resident. 

On Sunday, 12 February 2023, at around 1:30 P.M., Civil Administration personnel arrived with a military and Border Police escort and a bulldozer at the village of Fasayil al-Wasta in the Jordan Valley. The forces demolished a shack that served as the residence of a family of 10, including five minors, as well as an outhouse used by the family. The two structures were donated by ACTED. The forces then demolished a farm with three livestock enclosures, a shack and another shack still under construction. They also destroyed troughs, two water tanks and parts of a fence. The farm supported a family of seven, including four minors 

On Sunday, 12 Februrary 2023, at around 9:00 A.M., Civil Administration personnel came with a military and Border Police escort and a crane truck to the area of Masafer Bani Na’im and confiscated a trailer used for agricultural needs belonging to a resident of Bani Na’im. The forces then continued to the village of al-Buweib in the South Hebron Hills with a bulldozer and a digger, and demolished a rainwater cistern used for irrigation.