Local resident standing over demolished building

See of photos of al Auja on flikr here

On Monday 23rd January 2012 the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) demolished a large commercial building in the north of Al Auja village, which was going to house 10 new shop units.

Several local people had been investing in the construction of this new building since 2009: Thyab Abed al Hameed Njom, Yaser Abed al Hameed Njom, Mohammad Abed Rahman Njom and Jaser Ahed Rahman Njom.

Yet, as Thyab commented “We were building for months and the Israelis came and destroyed everything in 30 minutes.”

At 9am, Israeli military police, civil administration and IOF bulldozers arrived declaring the area a closed military zone. They then destroyed the building.

Two months after building started the IOF served a demolition order on the building – Israel systematically uses a system of permits and planning controls to prevent Palestinian construcution. The owners appealed to the military court Beit El but authorities refused to stop the demolition order.    

JVS volunteer Gonzales commented: “…destruction of shops is clearly a strategy to impoverish the local population, destruction of expensive installations, destruction of local and family business as well as any working place created, and the message transmitted to the population,  ‘you cannot create business in this area; this area belongs to our people’”.

Destroying Local Commerce

Demolishing a commercial centre which was being constructed as 10 local shop units is part of Israel’s policy to force Palestinians to leave their land. Destroying community attempts to build new infrastructure is another method Israel uses to create conditions where people are forced to move to the larger cities such as Jericho, Nablus or Ramallah.

Economist Shir Hever from the Alternative Information Centre emphasised, “Al-Auja lost most of its lands to the surrounding settlements, and more importantly – most of its water was confiscated by the settlements. The population was impoverished, and many of the residents have no choice but to work for the illegal settlements, working in agriculture and being exploited by the settlers, who profit from exporting fruit and vegetables grown on stolen Palestinian land, with stolen Palestinian water and exploited Palestinian labour.”

“The excuse for the demolition, as always, is that the Palestinians dared to build in area C. Area C is 95% of the Jordan Valley. It was defined in the Oslo agreements, which were designed to be replaced by a permanent agreement in 1999, with an independent Palestinian state. Israel continues to use area C to justify its illegal demolitions.”

“Demolitions not only cause suffering and loss to the directly affected households, but they hurt the Palestinian economy as a whole. Destroying the stores in Auja prevent the Palestinians from developing internal commerce and forces them to keep relying on Israeli companies for consumer goods and for employment”.

Al Auja village

Al Auja is a village with a population of about 6000 situated 10 km north east of Jericho city in the Jordan Valley. After occupation in 1967, Israel classified land west of the Jordan River a ‘security border zone’ confiscating 30,147 dunnams of land from Al Auja and closing it to Palestinians. A fence was erected to segregate the land.

Palestinians living in Al Auja, like in most of the Jordan Valley, are penalized by the IOF and suffer from water shortages, land confiscations, restrictions on movement, lack of services and regular destruction of property.

Illegal Settlements

Since the occupation in 1967 six illegal settlements have been built on Al Auja land: Yitav (1970), Gilgal (1970), Netiv Hagedud (1975), Niran (1977) Na’ama (1982) and Omer’s farm (2005). Israel has confiscated more than 2682 dunnams (1 dunnam  = 10m sq) from Al Auja to build these illegal agricultural colonies. Palestinians are also forbidden from using the land surrounding the settlements which traditionally was used for agriculture and grazing animals.

Land Control and Restrictions on Movement

Jericho was the first city in the West Bank to be handed over to the Palestinian National Authority according to Oslo I agreement of 1994. Al Auja village was also handed to the Palestinians according to the same agreement. It is the only Area A village in the West Bank.

a small part of the built up area of al Auja was given to Palestinians after Oslo. Al Auja kept expanding since the occupation but the area where Palestinians are permitted to live remains the same.

832 dununs of the built-up area of village is classified area A and the Palestinian Authority have responsibility for civil administration.  About 1500 people from Al Auja live in area C (under full Israeli control), and as a result are denied access to land, water, or any services or infrastructure. They suffer regular demolitions and harassment, as the surrounding settlements gradually grab more and more of their land.

Road number 90 cuts through the West Bank from the southeast and runs north along the western shores of the Dead Sea and continues along the Jordan valley. The road bypasses Jericho city from the east and cuts through Al Auja village. Road 90 is the main road connecting settlements in the Jordan Valley to Jerusalem and was declared Area C (full Israeli control) under Oslo. IOF also declared 12.5 meters on each side of road 90 Area C prohibiting Palestinians from developing the land.

In 2000, IOF closed the main secure road connecting Al Auja and Jericho to give land to Omar’s farm which is an illegal settlement for 1 person. Closure of the main road to access Jericho city has forced Palestinians to take the alternative route making the journey 17km. All traffic from al Auja to Jericho is now forced to pass No’im, an Israeli checkpoint in the North of Al Auja. Recently, IOF has installed a new CCTV camera on the checkpoint. In September 2005, IOF confiscated 3 dununs of land to build Ya’eli military watch tower on the road connecting al Auja and Jericho.

Israeli infrastructure designed to link illegal settlements to Jerusalem has divided Al Auja in 3 separating the remaining agricultural land from the village center. The Palestinian communities of Ka’abne and Ras Al Auja (located in Al Auja district) have been designated closed military zones and face continuous pressure from IOF to leave their land.

Water

For centuries Al Auja spring provided fresh water for people who built their communities around the water resource. The area was famous for its abundance of water, fertile soil and hot climate. Banana and citrus groves were plentiful and people enjoyed a high standard of living.

In 1972 Israeli state water company, Mekorot, drilled two deep water wells around the source of the spring, two more were built in the 1990’s. Israel sealed the Palestinian well and now no water flows from beneath the ground. During the rain season in winter ground water flow from the Ramallah area but will stop flowing again soon.  Israel built deep water wells to pump water from the eastern aquifer to the six agricultural colonies surrounding Al Auja.

Al Auja is only allowed to purchase 8 cubic meters per hour from Israeli State water company Mekorot. This is not enough water for the population and people suffer severe water shortages, especially during summer when temperatures are extremely hot.

Education and Health

There are three schools in the built up area of Al Auja. UNRWA built a school for refugees in the 1950’s. In 2008, the Palestinian Authority built separate girls’ and boys’ secondary schools. Before these were built children had to travel to Jericho for their education.

However, nobody has built schools or community resources for the large Bedouin communities of Ka’abne and Ras Al Auja. Over the last two years the communities in both of these areas have come together, with the support of Jordan Valley Solidarity, to create their own community schools. They have faced persistent harassment and threats of demolition from the Israeli Military Administration, but have stood firm and refused to give in. More information about these community schools can be seen in our Right to Education section.

An UNRWA clinic for refugees opens on Wednesday and Friday from 9am-1pm.  The Palestinian Authority clinic opens 9-12 every day but the doctor only comes 2 or 3 days per week so most people have to travel to Jericho for medical treatment.

References

Applied Research Institute

ARIJ Database GIS-2005

 

POICA; Al ‘Auja village between the Jaws of the Israeli Occupation (2006)

http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/view.php?recordID=754