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Demolitions for the Apartheid Wall in Al Aqaba
Latest News, PENGON/Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign, December 23rd, 2003

Today, the Occupation military arrived in Al Aqaba just before noon with military bulldozers, tanks, and soldiers and invaded the village, which lies just northeast of Tubas. They began demolishing two homes which had been given demolition military orders in October 2003; one house was home to 12 people while the second was home to eight family members. Another ten buildings in Al Aqaba are threatened for demolition with military orders including the kindergarten, the generator, and the village mosque. The Occupation military stated that they would return in 5 days to “finish” the demolitions.

Since the demolition orders were issued, the people in the village have tried to obtain licenses for their buildings from the Occupation Civil Administration—the pretense for the demolition orders was for a lack of building permits. The licenses were rejected for the buildings and homes while the applications for the mosque and kindergarten have yet to be answered.

The demolitions come as part of the plan to build the Apartheid Wall west of Al Aqaba, which will isolate it entirely from Tayasir and Tubas—where the residents of Al Aqba go for all education, health, and medial facilities. The Wall will further prohibite them from accessing their only water source from the Far’a Valley located southwest of Tubas city.

Above: Line “A” indicates the Wall’s completed “first phase” while line “B” is that under construction in eastern Jenin. Al Aqaba is east of line “E”, signifying that it will be isolated by the Wall in the Jordan Valley.