Homes to be demolished in Al Hadidiya and Humsa
Two villages in the Jordan Valley, almost completely surrounded by the illegal Roi settlement, were targeted by Israeli military planners Monday, when six residents were handed home demolition orders.
The villages of Al-Hadidiya and Khirbet Humsa, in the south of the Tubas municipality, are the latest to be targeted, following the delivery of orders to two other villages in the Tubas municipality – also along the Jordan Valley – giving families ten days to evacuate their lands after declaring the area a “closed military zone.”
The move, described as “devastating” to the families by head of the Atuf village council Abdallah Bisharat, would see more than 50 Palestinians made homeless and deprived of their livelihoods.
Abdel Rahim Bsharat, a resident targeted in the latest order delivery, said it was not the first time he had been served a notice. He said he had called officials in the Palestinian Authority and said he, alongside all of the other families in the village, would stand against the Israeli orders.
The latest orders targeted the following families:
Al-Hadidiya:
Abdel Rahim Hussein Bsharat
Muhammad Ali Bani Odeh
Abdel Mahdi Salamin
Khirbet Humsa:
Harb Abul Qabbash
Ismael Abul Qabbash
Ibrahim Abul Qabbash
Israeli representatives from the Civil Administration office did not immediately respond to questions about the incident.
A ‘planning regime’ targeting Palestinian life
A UN report from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs released in December 2009 identified what researchers termed a “planning regime,” wherein building in Area C was “effectively prohibited in some 70 percent of Area C, while in the remaining 30 percent, a renage of restrictions virtually eliminate the possibility of obtaining a building permit.”
The report noted that “in practice, the Israeli authorities allow Palestinian construction only within the boundaries of an Israeli-approved plan.”
As a result of the regime, the UN report said, “Palestinians are left with no choice but to build ‘illegally’ and risk demolition of their structures and displacement.”
