Updates

This morning, 4 July 2018, Israel continued implementing its policy of transferring Palestinian communities: In Khan al-Ahmar the Civil Administration began paving an access road to facilitate transferring the community. In the nearby Abu a-Nuwar, the CA demolished 9 homes and 3 farm buildings, leaving 62 people homeless. The CA came to Susiya, apparently to plan the demolition of 7 structures. Israel claims it is merely enforcing the law, on building without permits. But the residents are not criminals: Israel denies them any way of obtaining construction permits and creates unbearable living conditions, hoping they leave - ostensibly of their own volition - so that it can take over their lands. Transferring communities in a war crime; no court ruling or military order can whitewash it.

On 6 June 2018 Israeli soldiers entered the Palestinian village of a-Nabi Saleh. Two young men threw stones at a soldier, and one stone apparently struck his helmet. The young men fled, but one of them, ‘Iz a-Din Tamimi, was hit in the back and died soon after. This lethal shooting was unlawful and unjustified, but no one will be held to account. The media reported that the Military Police has opened an investigation, but experience shows that this is intended solely to deflect criticism of the military and will almost certainly end without any results.

On 2 June 2018, after settlers assaulted a shepherd aged 71 just outside the village of ‘Urif, clashes erupted with local residents. Soldiers who arrived on the scene joined the settlers, throwing stun and teargas grenades, firing “rubber” bullets, and beating several Palestinians with their rifle butts. This incident is not exceptional: such attacks take place routinely, with the full support of senior officers and government ministers, and no effort is made to stop or prevent them.

At 6:00 AM today, the entire community of Khirbet Humsah, 16 families, 103 people, including a baby and a child with Down Syndrome, was forced to evacuate on orders of the Israeli Civil Administration, allegedly for military training. The families, five of which have been temporarily displaced four times this year, will have to stay away until 8:00 P.M. Frequent military exercises are one way Israel is creating impossible living conditions meant to drive residents of Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley and Area C overall to leave their homes, as if by choice.

Early on the morning of 7 May 2018, soldiers came with attack dogs to Jenin R.C. and entered two homes. The soldiers used the dogs to assault four of the occupants, including a teenaged boy and a man over 70. Military night raids on homes have long since become part of the violent routine of occupation. In this case, the soldiers even used attack dogs, and then exhibited marked indifference to those injured. This conduct is not a local initiative. It is part of the Israeli military’s policy in the West Bank. Therefore, as in other cases, no one will be called to account.

On 17 June, a new military order removing any option for Palestinians to challenge demolition orders against their homes will go into effect. This is a new phase in Israel’s planning and building policy in the West Bank, which is aimed at denying Palestinian development and taking over land for Israeli needs. Removing the façade of judicial review over demolitions indicates Israel’s plan to accelerate dispossession and a conviction that it will not be called to task over this either internationally or locally.

Over 300 elected officials, legal scholars, academics, artists, faith leaders, and activists from around the world and Israel published an open letter voicing opposition to Israel’s plans to forcibly transfer thousands of Palestinians living in farming-shepherding communities in the West Bank. The letter focuses on Khan al-Ahmar in particular, a community under imminent threat of demolition and forcible transfer.

B’Tselem sharply criticizes Israel’s Military Advocate General (MAG) Corps for its decision to withdraw the indictments in the case of 16-year-old Palestinian Samir ‘Awad, killed by soldiers when they shot him in the back and head while he was caught between barbed wire fences. No crime against Palestinians lies beyond the ability of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and MAG Sharon Afek to whitewash.

On 14 May 2018 at 11:40 P.M., soldiers entered the home of the extended Da’na family (40 people in total) in the al-Hariqah neighborhood of Hebron and woke the inhabitants. They demanded the children be woken and claimed to be seeking stone-throwers. The soldiers left at midnight. About an hour later, another force arrived and took up a position on the roof until 6:00 A.M. With the settlement of Kiryat Arba nearby, the Da’na family and other area residents suffer frequent harassment by settlers and security forces.

Soldiers entered four homes in al-Mughayir, Ramallah District, on two nights in March and April, waking the entire household, including little children, and kept people confined for hours in their home for hours, monitoring their every movement. They also confined anyone who came to the door. At gunpoint, the soldiers forced a resident to carry out the “neighbor procedure.” Testimonies indicate a severe violation of residents’ privacy and rights. These objectionable actions show how easily Israeli soldiers can disrupt the lives of Palestinians who remain defenseless even in their own homes.