***image1***On the morning of Wednesday, April 24th, 2004, Occupation forces surrounded the village of Imreiha, imposing curfew and invading the village. Shortly thereafter a house belonging to Atiaya Hamdan was demolished, as well as a section of another house, and three barns belonging to three brothers from Hamdoni family. The soldiers also arrested the three Hamdoni brothers.
Imreiha is a small community south of Yabad in Jenin District, and the 150 residents in the village are mostly refugees from 1948 Palestine. The village has little or no public infrastructure as the Occupation forces have prohibited the people from developing the village, or buiding any additional structures. Considering the lands of the village would allow for further expansion potential for the two settlements of Khermesh and Mevo Dotan, the Occupation forces have employed several different policies to try and expel the people from the village. In addition to barring them from building any new structures, existing buildings are routinely demolished. In the last few years alone seven buildings have been reduced to piles of rubble. The economic hardship resulting from the destruction of these buildings, the inability of the people to raise animals or use their agricultural lands are all part of a larger strategy to force the villagers from their homes.
In Zububa the people are not being allowed to sow their tobacco crop for this season, tobacco being the main crop in the village. Occupation forces are not permitting the people to work, or even access their lands, which are adjacent to the Apartheid Wall. Occupation forces have installed a number of cameras to monitor the situation, and enforce the restrictions. Most of Zububa’s lands are to the east of the Wall, and many people were arrested this month and taken to Salem military station coinciding directly with the few weeks available for planting.
In Mutilla, east Jenin, Occupation forces gave stop work warnings to two houses currently under construction. The two houses are overlooking the Wall.