On Wednesday morning (24/4/13) Israeli occupation forces, accompanied by bulldozers and the so-called Civil Administration, demolished 3 houses under construction in the Ganieh region, northwest of al-Arrub refugee camp, north of Hebron. When Hazem Abdel Fattah Al Jabri returned to his home the occupation forces had demolished a room 35m square and a concrete wall 120m long and 2m high – costing him about two hundred thousand shekels. Jacob Mohamed Gad Allah Abu reported that an area 140m square of a building under construction had been demolished and Omar Younis Rashid Moheisen said the IOF demolished two rooms in his house as well as destroying the water tanks and leveling land that was planted with dozens of olive and almond trees.
The occupation forces declared the area a closed military zone during the demolition process and prevented the approach of citizens and homeowners. According to the owners of the destroyed houses they received no notifications of the demolition and were surprised that the process was initiated without warning in an area that is far from any settlements or roads used by settlers.
In Jerusalem, the IOF also demolished a house belonging to Kayed Jaradat located in the Mount Sinai area due to lack of a license; leaving the 25 member s of the Jaradat family homeless. This “license” is required for Palestinians to have permission to build on their own land; however this permission is never granted. The Jaradat family confirmed that the bulldozers came to the area without an advance warning and the family had no time to prepare to leave the house.
The IOF yesterday also demolished houses and farm areas housing livestock in al-Maleh and the Bedouin areas due to lack of license. This means the number of establishments that have been demolished since the beginning of the year has now reached 80.
Israeli occupation forces have also announced they will demolish a water tank that is currently being built in the municipality of Idna. They have threatened to confiscate equipment and arrest any workers who continue to work there. The tank serves agricultural land and livestock farmers in the western region and 20,000 dollars has been spent on its creation.
It is also worth noting that on Tuesday, the occupation forces uprooted more than 1,300 olive trees in the Susia area east of Yatta in the Hebron district. The trees belonged to 11 families in total and again, there was no prior warning of the uprooting and destruction that was about to take place. A group of settlers from the “Karmi Tsur” settlement also uprooted 30 olive trees east of the town of Halhul.