Johadi family al Farasiya

For photos of demolitions on Flickr click here

On Monday March 26, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) demolished 4 homes and 12 animal barracks in the Jordan Valley.

At 8am, 4 Israeli military vehicles, 2 civil administration jeeps and 2 bulldozers entered the Palestinian community of al Hama. They declared the area a closed military zone before demolishing the home of Mahmoud Alwad. He lived there with his wife and their 4 children.

IOF continued to the home of Abed Rabo Mohammed Abdullah Ben Odi, in the same community. Abed received a demolition order in November and his appeal was still being processed by the court when IOF arrived to demolish the two properties where his family of 11 lived. Their youngest is a 2 month old baby. Soldiers prohibited the family from removing all of their personal belongings. Afterwards they continued to demolish the Ben Odi family’s 4 animal barracks.

At 10am, IOF destroyed the home of Majid Mohammed Hamed Daragemeh who lived with his wife and 7 children. They also destroyed the family’s animal barracks.

IOF then continued up the dirt road in the small community to demolish the home of Nagi Ahmed Suliman Dibik who lived with his wife and 6 children. They also demolished the family’s tool shed.

Al Hama is located in the Northern Jordan Valley and is home to 16 families. All are prohibited from having running water despite Mekorot (Israeli State water company) pipes passing through the community. Similarly, Israeli electricity pylons pass through the community but are for sole use by the Jewish only settler population. The Bedouin community of al Hammi live a traditional way of life dependant on raising animals and producing cheese or yogurt. In less than 2 hours, Isreali Occupation Forces had destroyed 4 family homes making 34 people (including 26 children) homeless. 

At 11am, IOF entered al Farisiya and destroyed 2 animal barracks owned by Abdullah Ali Johadi. They demolished these barracks last October and on March 8 2012, IOF destroyed some agricultural land owned by the Johadi family and ordered Abdullah to leave his land and go to Tubas (local Palestinian urban area), warning him he could be killed on this night if he remained on  his land.

At approximately 11.30am, IOF continued to demolish his brother’s barracks, Husein Johadi Abu Mazin. His wife commented, “This land is just for the animals and they come and destroy it. They want to be master of everything.”

“Ottoman, British and Jordanians all occupied this land before but no state treated us like this”. 

IOF also demolished 2 animal barracks and a tool shed owned by Suleiman Abdallah Mahmoud Bsharat in Khirbet Humsa. On January 12, 2012, IOF destroyed the same barracks where the Bsharat family keep 300 sheep.

Khirbet Humsa is located in the centre of the Jordan Valley and is home to 9 families.

View the Machsom Watch report on the demolitions.