Demolitions in Bardala village
Israeli soldiers invaded the village of Bardala in the early afternoon of 19th November 2018 and demolished a brand new home of Khaled Rasheed´s family.
Bardala village, in the northern Jordan Valley, is one of the very few Jordan Valley villages designated as Area B in the Oslo accords, giving some theoretical rights to the local population to have control over infrastructure and planning controls. However, just 3 km2 in the centre of the village is in area B, and allt he surrounding areas and farmland are in Area C, over which the Israeli state has absolute control.
The heart of the village is becoming more and more overcrowded as the occupation authorities harrass other Palestinian communities in the rest of the Jordan Valley, demolish their homes, and pressurise them to move to Bardala, Tubas, Nablus and elsewhere.
For the last three years the people of Bardala village have been subjected to increasing numbers of demolitions and destruction of their water supply pipes.
Khaled Rasheed´ family properties were previously demolished a month ago. On October 18th, the army destroyed a 1000 metre2 sheep shelter as well as an 18 metre2 family house. After this first demolition the land where the family home stood, was recognized as a property of Israeli authority. The family just completed the construction of a new shelter for the animals ten days ago, but almost immediately received a demolition order for the building.
There are five people in the Khaled Rasheed family and the entiree family income comes from farming and shepherding, as it has done for generations.
The family decided to build a temporary canvas tent to live inside the new sheep shelter, despite the demolition order which had been imposed on this structure, since there is nowhere welse where they can live where they would be safe or protected from attacks by the Israeli army.