Israeli Civil Administration evacuates 9 families for an entire night, citing military training near their homes

23 April 2017

On 2 April 2017 Civil Administration representatives arrived at Khirbet a-Ras al-Ahmar a small shepherding community in the northern Jordan Valley. The settlements of Ro’i and Beka’ot were established nearby. The officials informed nine families in the community that they were required to evacuate their homes on Wednesday, 5 April 2017, from 5:00 P.M. until the next morning at 5:00 A.M., on the pretext that that military needed to train nearby. The nine families evacuated number about 40 people, including some 15 minors. They were compelled to spend the night without shelter, far from home. Some of the families left riding donkeys, others walked and a handful left by car. All were forced to leave behind their sheep and most of their property.

Security forces accompany a Kh. Ras al-Ahmar family being evacuated. Photo by ‘Aref Daraghmeh, B’Tselem, 5 April 2017

A week earlier Civil Administration personnel had come to the community and informed the same families that they would have to evacuate their homes from the afternoon of 29 March 2017 until the following morning. Despite the notice of evacuation, no training took place in the area of the community, nor did Civil Administration representatives arrive to evacuate the residents, who had needlessly prepared for the evacuation.

In 2016, Khirbet a-Ras al-Ahmar families were evacuated on ten separate occasions on the pretext that the area was needed for military training.

In testimony given to B’Tselem field resaercher ‘Aref Daraghmeh on 6 April 2017, ‘Ali Bani ‘Odeh, 40, described how he was evacuated with his wife and five children:

We live in tents and simple shelters in difficult conditions. I was born here, and so were all my relatives who live in the community. A week ago people came from the Civil Administration and told us that they plan to expel us from 5:00 P.M. on Wednesday (29 March) until 5:00 A.M. the next morning. We started to prepare. They ended up not arriving to evacuate us. We were tense and uncertain because we didn’t know why they weren’t arriving to evacuate us. Usually they arrive and evacuate a little before the scheduled time. We were worried that they’d train while we were still there. The hours passed slowly and we couldn’t fall asleep.
On 2 April 2017, Civil Administration people arrived once again and served us with orders to evacuate from Wednesday 5 April 2017 at 5:00 P.M. until 5:00 A.M. the following morning. On Wednesday, at the scheduled time, we were exhausted. We spent the entire day feeding the sheep, putting the tents in order and tying up the bundles of feed. We wanted to get as much done as possible. In the end, we had to leave most of the work unfinished. My wife didn’t get a chance to finish making the cheese, the children didn’t have time to prepare for school for the following morning. At around 5:00 P.M., while we were busy trying to feed the sheep and close everything up, Civil Administration and military personnel arrived and demanded that everyone leave quickly. They started going from tent to tent to get everyone out. They led the people out with jeeps driving behind them, like herding sheep.
Some of the families rode donkeys and some walked. We all went to the area of the village of ‘Atuf, about eight kilometers from our tents. There’s nothing in that area and we barely managed to take anything with us. We spent the night outside our tents and couldn’t manage to sleep even a wink. We kept thinking about the tents, the sheep and our property. We were afraid that tank shells would fall there. We were very worried about the sheep because of wild animals. The night passed slowly and we waited for the sun to rise so we could begin making our way back home.
In the morning, we were exhausted. We walked back worried about shells falling. When we reached our tents I started checking the surrounding area because I was afraid there’d be unexploded munitions. The sheep were happy to see us. Straight away we began giving them food and water. Some of the children didn’t go to school, because they were too exhausted and couldn’t keep their eyes open after spending the night out in the cold with no shelter.
They conduct training here, where we’ve been living for years, and they don’t train near the settlements. We know that they’re trying to drive us out, that they want to destroy our livelihood. They limit the grazing areas for our sheep through their exercises and the unexploded munitions they leave behind. Where can we go? We grew up here and our entire lives are here. We’re here to provide for our children.

The repeated evacuations of communities in the Jordan Valley on the pretext that the area where they live is needed for military training cause an intolerable disruption of the lives of the residents, and are unjustified and unlawful. In addition, in some cases the families have no adequate alternate location to relocate to, and they are compelled to stay out in the open, exposed to the elements, and to fend for shelter, food and water themselves. The high frequency of military exercises completely undermines the lives of the residents and threatens the communities’ very ability to survive.

Under international humanitarian law, Israel has no right to use land for general military purposes, such as training for war or ordinary training. It is certainly not allowed to harm the livelihood of protected persons on this pretext or take action to drive them from their homes.

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Communities Facing Expulsion

Court sanctioned war crime committed in broad daylight

Yesterday, Israel committed an attempted forcible transfer – a war crime – against residents of Humsah. In a break from the previous five demolitions in the community within less than a year, yesterday, Israeli soldiers and Civil Administration staff removed the contents of some residents’ homes and transported the items to an area located near ‘Ein Shibli, where Israel has been trying to forcibly relocate residents. Israel misrepresented these actions as being part of dialog and consent, proving, if anyone still entertained any doubts, it is intent on expelling these residents from their homes permanently. The military’s response, as it appeared in the media, highlighted the fact that the attempted expulsion was carried out with the approval of Israel’s High Court of Justice. Indeed, when the ICC looks into forcible transfers as part of its investigation of Israel, it will have to assess the responsibility of justices as well as ministers and top military commanders. On Wednesday, at around 8:00 A.M., soldiers and Civil Administration staff arrived at the community of Khirbet Humsah in the northern Jordan Valley. The forces declared the area a closed military zone and denied journalists, human rights activists and diplomats access. The forces dismantled nine tents and four huts used as residences, as well as 17 agricultural structures, all together belonging to nine families with a total of 61 members, including 34 minors. The forces also destroyed four water tanks, water lines, fencing and farming equipment. The residents’ belongings were loaded onto trucks that transported them to the ‘Ein Shibli community, which lies west of Khirbet Humsah. Community members fled to the mountains with their flocks, leaving the buses brought in to forcibly relocate them to ‘Ein Shibli empty.

9 July 2021

Agriculture

16-year-old Palestinian killed by unexploded ammunition left behind after Israeli military trains on pastureland

On Saturday morning, 22 July 2017, at about 7:00 A.M., ‘Udai Nawaj’ah, 16, his brother Diaa’, 18, and his uncle D’as, 33, all from the Palestinian community of Khirbet Ibziq northeast of Tubas, set off to graze their flocks in al-Makhbah, an area that lies some 1.5 kilometers away. At about 10:00 A.M., they returned home to eat and give their flocks water. At about 2:00 P.M., they set out again to al-Makhbah, where they met Sa’ed Fawadlah, 21, a member of the community who was grazing his cattle. In a testimony he gave to B'Tselem field researcher ‘Aref Daraghmeh on 23 July 2017, D’as Nawaj’ah related: Around midday, we headed east with our flocks towards al-Makhbah, where there’s a bit of dry grass and some areas that are good for grazing. You have to be careful when you go out there, because sometimes the military trains there without warning us. This was a Saturday, so we thought the military wouldn’t be training and decided to go. D’as Nawaj’ah shows where his nephew was killed. Photo by ‘Aref Daraghmeh, B’Tselem, 23 July 2017 I was with ‘Udai and Diaa’, the sons of my brother ‘Aziz, and we also met a shepherd called Sa’ed there. We followed the flocks around as they wandered and grazed. At one point, I was standing between maize seedlings and some pretty tall plum trees, about forty meters away from ‘Udai. He was by a terebinth tree and Diaa’ was about twenty meters away from him. Suddenly, I heard an explosion. At first, I thought that a mortar shell had landed between us and the flock. I started running towards ‘Udai and so did Diaa’. I saw him lying on the ground. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Diaa’ and I started looking for a spot where we could pick up a phone signal and call for help, but we didn’t find one so Diaa’ ran home. ‘Udai’s brother Bahaa came as didmy nephew ‘Ali, my sister’s son came. About an hour later, a Red Crescent ambulance arrived and I went with ‘Udai to the Turkish Hospital in Tubas. He was dead when we got there. I totally forgot what we’d been doing – we left our flocks behind and the sheep scattered. I barely remembered that we had to go gather them. After ‘Udai was taken to hospital, Sa’ed Fawadleh, who remained on the scene, gathered the flock and led them back to Khirbet Ibziq. In a testimony he gave to B'Tselem field researcher ‘Aref Daraghmeh on 7 August 2017, Diaa’ described the moment his brother ‘Udai was killed: I was about thirty meters away from ‘Udai, who was standing under a terebinth tree. I was trying to drive the sheep away from a pile of straw that belongs to a neighboring family when suddenly, I heard a loud explosion. I looked at ‘Udai and ran over to him. I found him lying on the ground. He made a choking sound once or twice and died. It was a terrible, horrifying sight. I didn’t know what just happened or how it had happened – it was over in seconds. One moment he was standing there, and the next he was dead. This life is full of fear. My brother ‘Udai meant everything to me. We were always joking around with each other. We were brothers, but more like best friends. Now he’s gone forever. No place is safe, for us or for our flocks. I couldn’t look at my brother, it was too terrible. The sight was too horrific to describe. But what can I say? Thank God for what we have. We still haven’t taken it all in and accepted that ‘Udai has gone. All our extended family came to stay with us and spent days and nights helping us get through it all. The unexploded ammunition took ‘Udai away without any warning. I don’t know who will be next – every day there are new victims. The residents of Khirbet Ibziq suffer from incessant military training near their homes. Since January 2014, the military has evicted them from their tents 29 times, citing the need to hold maneuvers nearby. On some occasions, the residents were evicted in harsh weather and forced to spend the night out in the open. These temporary displacements have caused serious financial losses and psychological problems, particularly among the children. The Israeli military deliberately selects its training areas in the Jordan Valley: Maneuvers are never held close to settlements or on land under their control, and the military ensures that training does not endanger settlers or disrupt their routine. Settlers are never asked to vacate their homes, temporarily or for good, to allow for military exercises. The military does not confine itself to driving Palestinians from their homes and exploiting their environment. Despite insisting on training near communities and on their farmland, no effort is made to comb the areas afterwards to remove unexploded duds. This results in deaths and injuries to both people and livestock, and also incurs loss of income. According to OCHA (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) figures, since 2014, at least two other Palestinians were killed and at least five injured when duds exploded in the Jordan Valley. In addition, hundreds of animals have also been killed there by unexploded ammunition left behind. Israel’s policy in the Jordan Valley has turned vast swathes of land into military training grounds. The Palestinians who live there are treated as extras and their homes as a mere backdrop. Israel pursues this policy although, as the occupying power in the West Bank, it is prohibited from using the territory for general military needs such as training for combat. Evicting residents from their homes to enable military maneuvers also contravenes international humanitarian law, which permits the occupying power to act in the occupied territory in two circumstances only: for the benefit of the local population or to meet immediate military needs that relate to military action within the occupied area. Israel’s selective choice of military training grounds in the West Bank and the implications for Palestinian communities – danger to lives, repeated evictions, harassment, destruction of farmland, loss of livelihood and disruption of daily routine – expose the true goals of this policy. Israel is seeking to remove Palestinians from their land in the Jordan Valley in order to advance Israeli interests. This policy regularly violates the rights of these residents and makes their lives a misery. In some cases, as described here, it costs them their lives.

17 October 2017

Residents of Kh. Basaliyeh putting out fire caused by military’s training. Between Kh. Basaliyeh and Humsah. Photo: ‘Aref Daraghmeh,, B’Tselem, 25 June 2015

Communities Facing Expulsion

June in the Jordan Valley: In 7 days of maneuvers, military temporarily displaces hundreds and causes fires in farmland

This past month, June 2015, the Israeli military temporarily displaced hundreds of Palestinians from communities in the Jordan Valley, forcing them to leave their homes for varying periods of time over seven days in which maneuvers were held in the area. Since the beginning of the year, Palestinians in the Jordan Valley have been temporarily displaced over 20 days of military training. B'Tselem has documented the displacement of the residents and its impact on the lives of their communities. Residents of Kh. Basaliyeh putting out fire caused by military’s training. Between Kh. Basaliyeh and Humsah. Photo: ‘Aref Daraghmeh,, B’Tselem, 25 June 2015 Khirbet Humsah: Four displacements of some members of the community On 10 and 16 June, ten families from the community of Khirbet Humsah were made to leave their homes for seven hours as of 7:00 A.M. The families, numbering 69 people, 43 of them minors, went to areas several kilometers from their homes, sometimes using carts dragged by tractors and sometimes on foot. On 10 June, when the residents returned to their homes, they found that grazing areas and cultivated farmland had gone up in flames, presumably as the result of firing by the military. In addition, water tanks used to water the flocks were pierced by bullets. The residents also reported that they found unexploded ammunition in areas close to their homes. On the morning of 16 June, Civil Administration representatives informed the same residents that they would be required to leave their homes again, together with five other families from the community, on 22 June and 25 June 2015. On 22 and 25 June, 15 families numbering 92 people, 51 of them minors, were forced to leave their homes from 6:00 A.M. through 12:30 P.M. Testimonies that residents gave B'Tselem indicate that during the maneuver on 25 June, the military engaged in extensive shooting, leading to the outbreak of fires in grazing areas used by the residents some two kilometers from their homes. Yasser Abu Kabash, 42, a resident of the neighboring community of Khirbet Basaliyeh to the southwest of Khirbet Humsah, related in his testimony to B'Tselem field researcher ‘Aref Daraghmeh: Yasser Abu Kabash shows pastures that caught fire. Photo: ‘Aref Daraghmeh,, B’Tselem, 25 June 2015 We heard mortar explosions and gunfire, and once in a while we could see fire. It spread across the grazing areas and came as close as half a kilometer from our tents in Basaliyeh. These grazing areas are the source of food for our flocks and they are our main lifeline. Without them, we will have to buy expensive fodder. Our lives are difficult, and any small saving is very significant in terms of our survival. After discussing the situation with my brothers, we decided to take a risk and try to put out the fire, although the area was still a closed military zone and there was still shooting. We spoke to the military officers who were there, but they refused to allow us to approach the area until the training ended. Eventually, when we saw that the fire was destroying large areas, we went around and entered the grazing areas from an area far from the maneuvers, while mortars were still being fired in the area. Some soldiers saw us and wanted to make us leave, but we explained that we wanted to put out the fire and they allowed us to do so. I didn’t have anything on me that could help extinguish the fire. I took my pants off and used them to put out the fire. I told myself that this way I would save the grazing area for my flock, and that new pants would cost me much less than expensive fodder for the animals. We managed to put the fire out in several places. During the month of May, residents of Khirbet Humsah had already been required to leave their homes for several hours over a period of one week. All told, from the beginning of the year through the end of June, residents of the community were required to leave their homes on 11 different days due to military training. Khirbet al-Malih, ‘Ein al-Meyteh and al-Burj: Entire communities displaced three times Throughout June, all the residents of Khirbet al-Malih, ‘Ein al-Meyteh and al-Burj - three Palestinian communities that live close to each other – were displaced three times due to military maneuvers near their homes. Together, the three communities are home to 29 families numbering 180 members, more than a hundred of them minors. On 11 and 17 June, the residents were evacuated for six hours on each occasion, beginning at 6:30 a.m. B'Tselem’s investigation found that no damage was caused to property or land during these military exercises. On 23 June, the residents were again evacuated (with the exception of two families who were in other grazing areas at the time). The residents distanced themselves from their homes, some on foot and others using carts dragged by tractors, and reported that they heard gunfire and explosions from a distance and saw fires break out in grazing land adjacent to al-Burj and to the nearby community of Khirbet Yarza, which was not required to evacuate. The residents also received orders to leave home on 26 June, but on that day representatives of the military and the Civil Administration did not come to the area as customary in order to ascertain that the residents had indeed evacuated. Accordingly, the residents remained in their homes. The reason for this was presumably that the training had been cancelled, although no-one bothered to inform the residents of this. In May the residents of these communities had already been evacuated for two days, and in total they have been displaced from their homes five times from the beginning of the year through the end of June. These military maneuvers cause unreasonable disruption to the lives of the communities in the area. The residents are required to leave their homes for many hours, sometimes on short notice of just a few hours. In some cases, they do not have any proper alternative location, and are left exposed to the harsh weather conditions that prevail in the Jordan Valley in the summer. In these conditions they must care for their families, from young children to the elderly, and find shelter, water and food. This hardship is particularly severe at present due to the month-long Ramadan fasting. Residents of Khirbet al-Malih, ‘Ein al-Meyteh and al-Burj evacuating. Photo by ‘Aref Daraghmeh, B’Tselem, 17 June 2015 The Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley rely almost exclusively for their livelihood on grazing flocks and growing crops on land next to their homes. Extensive damage to farmland and grazing areas due to gunfire, fires, and the passage of tanks and military vehicles through the fields jeopardizes the communities’ very ability to survive in the area. The minutes of a meeting held on 27 April 2014 by the Judea and Samaria Region Subcommittee of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which were published on the website of the newspaper Ha’aretz, clearly show that the removal of Palestinians from these areas is one of the main goals behind the military training in the area. At the meeting, Colonel Einav Shalev, an operations officer in the Central Command, stated: "I think that one of the good steps that could fall between the cracks is restoring firing zones in places where they are meant to be and still are not. [That is] one of the main reasons that we, as a military system, send a lot of the training maneuvers to the Jordan Valley… When the troops march, people moved aside, and I’m making no distinction between Jews and Palestinians here, I’m speaking generally… There are some places [where] we significantly cut down on the amount of training, and weeds cropped up.” According to international humanitarian law, an occupying state is permitted to act in the occupied territory on the basis of just two considerations: The good of the local population and immediate military needs relating to the military’s operations in the occupied territory. As an occupying power, Israel is not entitled to use the land for general military needs, such as training for war or general military exercises. It is certainly not permitted to damage the livelihood of protected residents on this pretext and to act to expel them from their homes. Israel must halt immediately all temporary displacements of communities for the purpose of military training, and all the other actions it undertakes in an attempt to forced the Palestinian residents of the Jordan Valley to leave the area.

29 June 2015