121111 Ras al Ahmar Training 5 web11th November 2012 – Since the early morning hours, Allon Road north of Hamra was controlled through flying checkpoints and army stops, with traffic halting for extended stretches at a time for military training. Residents reported that, for periods, both Hamra and Tayasir checkpoints were closed entirely. While military traffic was flowing, and even the infamous ditch along the northern side of Allon Road was opened at additional points to facilitate the training. Palestinian communities across the northern Jordan Valley were cut off entirely, displaced and forced to endure military drills in their lands.

While some families temporarily left their homes to spend hours in the rain and cold fearing repercussions if they did not follow the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) orders, others remained in their houses and witnessed the extent of the manoeuvres taking place throughout the day and into the evening. Members of the community in Khirbet Humsa sought shelter in nearby Al Hadidiya while families from Ras al Ahmar moved to Khirbet Atuf. As per orders issued to the communities on 8th November, the drills were conducted in the northern part of the Jordan Valley, affecting numerous communities, including Ras al Ahmar, Khirbet Humsa and Al Maleh.

Throughout the northern Jordan Valley , large tanks, military planes, helicopters,  countless troops on foot and in military jeeps, plus other vehicles moved in the vicinity of family homes, like the Palestinian lands were their backyard, and they could come and go as they pleased. Moreover, communities had to bear continuous shooting sounds, large detonations and explosions, testing of missiles and the resounding noise of infantry moving through their lands. Although coach loads of soldiers and vehicles were returning to the IOF bases around 5pm, training continued, including helicopters flying across the Jordan Valley seeking to assert control and intimidate.

In Ras al Ahmar, twenty families were evacuated by the IOF at 6am. They spent the day in Khirbet Atuf before returning to their homes in the evening. On 6th November, they had been given orders to evacuate the area for military training purposes – some only for the day time of 11th November, others for every day  between 6am and 6pm for the subsequent three weeks. Speaking to the families of Lutfi Said Jabir Banyaodi and Mahmoud Fahad Banyaodi, they reported continuous harassment throughout the last week with the IOF returning four times reiterating the orders and forcing them to leave. During the day on 11th November, families from Ras al Ahmar, watched military training carried out in the area of their village, including intensive shooting, explosions close to their homes and heavy military traffic.

In Al Maleh, permanently displaced as a result of the training which forms part of the IOF campaign to expel all Palestinians from Area C, Saleman Najadeh, resident of Al Maleh, explained that the community, located below an IOF military base, faces problems with the IOF on a daily basis. In the last days, his family was forced to move from a part of Al Maleh closer to Tayasir checkpoint to the area of the old Ottoman hotel on the other side of the village. He adds that with the rain of the last days, and on 11th November in particular, moving has had a huge impact on the family, their health and of course their livestock, which is their main source of income.