6 Sept. '11: Civil Administration head contradicts State’s response to High Court

6 September 2011

According to media reports, the head of the Civil Administration, Brig. Gen. Moti Almoz, has ordered an end to the demolition of Palestinian structures built without a permit. The order applies in Area C, some 60% of West Bank land where Israel is responsible for civil affairs, and is pending approval of Minister of Defense Ehud Barak. Almoz gave achieving “equality of enforcement” as the reason for the order, and noted that the Civil Administration was “very far” from enforcing the law in settlements and outposts where structures were built without permits. Almoz’s comments contradict the state’s announcements to the High Court of Justice, according to which the Civil Administration’s policy is based on "the principle of equal enforcement.”

Demolition of homes and other structures belonging to Palestinians is part of Israel’s discriminatory planning policy, which makes it impossible, in practice, for Palestinians to build with permits in Area C. In some Palestinian communities, the outline plans prepared by Israel restrict construction to the existing built-up area, ignoring development needs. The communities were excluded from the planning process.

In large parts of the Jordan Valley and the southern Hebron hills, Israel has routinely demolished structures in small Palestinian communities, on the grounds that they were built on land that Israel has defined as firing zones or nature reserves, or has seized as state land. In some cases, Palestinian communities had been living on the land since before Israel’s occupation of the West Bank in 1967.

At the same time, Israel has systematically refrained from enforcing the planning and building laws on settlements, even when massive construction has been carried out without a permit. This occurred, for example, in the Matityahu East neighborhood in Modi’in Illit, where hundreds of apartments were built without a permit. The state also refrains from law enforcement in settlements where structures were built without a permit on privately-owned Palestinian land, as occurred in the veteran settlement Ofra and in many outposts. According to data of the Ministry of Defense, of the Civil Administration, of and the State Comptroller’s Office, over the past 15 years, the authorities have uncovered thousands of building offenses in settlements. Figures provided to Peace Now by the Civil Administration indicate that, between 1996 and 2006, the Civil Administration opened 3,449 files involving building without a permit in settlements; enforcement action, including issuance of demolition orders, was taken in only 107, or three percent, of these cases.

B'Tselem rejects the false symmetry created by comparing Palestinian building in the West Bank and Israeli building in the settlements. Israel is obliged, under international humanitarian law, to enable Palestinian communities to build and develop according to their needs. It is not allowed to damage their property, including private and public structures. At the same time, international law forbids Israel to build settlements on the land it has occupied.

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הריסת מבנה בפסאייל א-תחתא. צילום: עארף דראר'מה, בצלם, 25.11.20

Planning Policy in the West Bank

Israel commits a crime and paints Palestinians as lawbreakers: The homes of 44 Palestinians, including 22 children, were demolished yesterday in the West Bank

As part of Israel’s efforts to take over more land in the West Bank, authorities yesterday destroyed the homes of 44 Palestinians (22 of them minors) and cut off entire communities from the water supply. Some of the homes demolished yesterday were still under construction and not yet occupied. These demolitions are the extreme manifestation of Israel’s policy designed to empty entire areas of the West Bank of their Palestinian residents. Other methods routinely used by Israel are conducting military training in residential and farming areas, denying Palestinians access to land, prohibiting construction, preventing connection to basic infrastructure and confiscating property. With a month left before the end of the year, Israel has demolished the homes of more than 900 Palestinians in 2020 (the figure includes the West Bank and East Jerusalem), compared with 677 in all of 2019. Ramallah Area In the village of a-Lubban al-Gharbiyah, Ramallah District, the Civil Administration demolished the frame of a building still under construction (flooring and columns) set to house a family of eight, including six children. A shack owned and used by another resident as a car repair shop was also demolished. Jordan Valley In Fasayil a-Tahta in the northern Jordan Valley, the Civil Administration: Confiscated two frames for shacks set to house an extended family of seven, including two children. The structures were donated by a humanitarian aid organization after the Civil Administration demolished their residential shacks in previous months. Demolished two shacks housing a family of ten, including four children, as well as a kitchen, an outhouse, livestock pens, a fence and an electrical grid. Demolished eight shacks used by two families, including an outhouse, an animal feed storeroom, a stable, a chicken coop and communal cooking ovens. It also destroyed animal feed. In the Tell a-Samadi community northwest of al-Jiftlik, the Civil Administration confiscated a shack housing a couple as well as a structure used as an outhouse and a water tank donated to the couple by a humanitarian aid organization after forces demolished their shack, outhouse and plastic water tank on 21 October 2020. Masafer Yatta (South Hebron Hills) In Khirbet a-Rakeez, the Civil Administration demolished two residential structures housing a family of six, including three children, and an agricultural structure used by another family in the community. In Khirbet a-Sarurah, the Civil Administration demolished an outhouse owned by a member of the community. In Khirbet Khilet a-Dabe’, two residential structures still under construction were demolished. They were meant to house two families numbering a total of 11 people, including seven children. A structure housing a toilet and a kitchen was also demolished. In Maghayir al-‘Abid, two farming structures and an outhouse owned by a local resident were demolished. Civil Administration personnel cut a 2-kilometer water pipe servicing the communities of al-Fakhit, a-Safai, Maghayir al-‘Abid and a-Taban. The water main cost close to 100,000 Euro, and it was donated by humanitarian organizations. The Civil Administration had already destroyed the water main into Masafer Yatta in February of 2019. It has been restored since, but in October this year, the Civil Administration damaged an internal water pipe servicing the communities of Maghayir al-‘Abid and Khirbet al-Majaz. In Khirbet Jinba, a water tank and part of a wire fence were destroyed, and four olive trees were uprooted. As of late November 2020, at least 919 Palestinians have lost their homes, including at least 460 minors. By comparison, in all of 2019, 677 Palestinians lost their homes, while the numbers for 2018 and 2017 are 397 and 521, respectively. Israel also demolished 330 non-residential structures and facilities over the course of 2020, including humanitarian infrastructure such as cisterns and water and electricity infrastructure that are essential. The demolitions were conducted, once again, just ahead of a significant winter weather system and during a pandemic. Earlier this month, on the eve of the US elections, Israel destroyed the entire community of Khirbet Humsah in the Jordan Valley, in the largest such demolition in a decade. Israel persists in this policy of forcible transfer, bolstered by judgments delivered by its courts, particularly the Supreme Court, and a flaccid response from the international community. Demolitions manifest just one aspect of this criminal policy that will not end until rebuke and demands for compensation are replaced by truly holding Israel accountable for its actions. Attempts to address this policy by other means have ended in failure - failure whose ruins are scattered throughout the West Bank.

26 November 2020

תושב ח'ירבת חומסה אל-פוקה עומד בתוך רכוש הקהילה שכוחות ישראליים השליכו ליד עין א-שיבלי. צילום: אורן זיו, אקטיבסטילס, 7.7.21

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

ההריסה בח'ירבת חומסה. צילום: עארף דראר'מה, 7.7.21

Communities Facing Expulsion

Trucks load personal belongings; buses arrive for residents: Israel carries out massive demolition at Humsah for the sixth time in less than a year

This morning, Wednesday, July 7, 2021, Israeli military and Civil Administration personnel arrived at the tent-dwelling community of Khirbet Humsah in the Jordan Valley. According to early reports, the forces have dismantled and confiscated tents housing numerous community members along with everything inside them, loading them onto trucks well into the evening. Buses also arrived at the scene to remove residents who were left without shelter in the sweltering heat. The residents, who refuse to leave, fear they will be expelled by force during the night. Initial reports indicate the forces demolished the homes of at least nine families, leaving 60 people homeless. Soldiers and Civil Administration staff continue to load the contents of the homes onto military trucks at this time. B’Tselem is still collecting exact information about the property that was confiscated and destroyed. What is clear at this moment, however, is that Israel’s attempt to pass its persecution of the community in a bid to forcibly remove it and take over the land as something community members have consented to must be wholly rejected. House demolitions in this community are part of the policy Israel employs throughout the West Bank in an effort to create unbearable living conditions with the ultimate aim of pushing Palestinians to leave their homes, concentrating them in enclaves and taking over their lands. This policy is an attempted forcible transfer of the residents - a war crime under international humanitarian law. The responsibility for this policy lies primarily with the government, which directs it, the top military command, which implements it, and the justices of the Supreme Court, who lend it legal legitimacy. Israel’s actions are also a badge of shame for the international community, which has absolved itself of the obligation to demand Israel respect the human rights of Palestinians living under its control and allowed itself to be satisfied with empty rebukes lacking any practical consequences.

7 July 2021