Demolitions in Al Jiftlik
Once again Israeli bulldozers are taking action with the intent to create further pressure on the people of the Jordan Valley.
On May 9th, 2017 occupation froces invaded Al-Jiftlik, a Palestinian village, just 33km north from Jericho in the heart of the Jordan Valley, making the nth abuse against the human rights of the local population.
Othman Anouz, head of the village, reported that the Israeli occupation army had two bulldozers and ten jeeps. They gave no advance notification of their intentions and left the families unable to recover their belongings.
The demolition is started in the first light of dawn, from 6.00 a.m to the 7.30 a.m, and the Al-ka’abna family could only look on without any means to defend their property or their rights.
The two structures involved are the principal house, where eight people lived and the shelter of hundreds of sheep, in which a young married couple used to sleep.
It should be remembered that sheep represent for the Bedouin one of the primary source of subsistence: after the demolition the flocks will be forced to survive without a shelter.
The family Al-ka’abna is not the only one to have suffered violence this magnitude. The number of demolitions inside the area C (95% of the West Bank under the full Israeli control) has been escalating. 274 homes were demolished in 2017 leaving 1,134 people homeless.
In area C it it virtually impossible for Palestinians to get a building permission and every unauthorised construction end up being pulverized by the Israeli bulldozers. During the first half of 2016 there were 428 applications for building permits in Palestinian communities in Area C, of which 391 (91 per cent) were rejected. (www.ochaopt.org).
This practice, together with a lot of other forms of oppression, among which the negation to the access to the water sources is a strategy aimed to displace the Palestinian.