New house demolition orders in Deir Ballut village

On June 4th, 2008, the Israeli occupation authorities handed over halt-construction notifications to owners of three commercial and agricultural structures in Deir Ballut village in Salfit governorate, under the pretext that they were built without proper licensing documents. The notifications were issued by the planning and construction department of the so-called Israeli civil administration in the West Bank based in Beit Il north of Ramallah city. The three affected structures are located in Area A of the 1995 Oslo II agreement designed to be under the Israeli security and civic affairs.

Map 1: Location of Deir Ballut and the Wall path

Table 1: Notified structures by owner's name, family members, type of structure and area

Photo 1: The threatened commercial store near the house of Mr. Raghib Abdul Fattah

Short notice

The halt-of construction notifications gave the owners a short notice of only two weeks time to get all the required documents prepared before the court session is held on June 19th, 2008.

Photo 2: Mrs. Khadija Abdullah'a walled farm

It is worth mentioning that the threatened water tank owned by Abdullah Odeh is made of plastic material and according to the Israeli law all plastic structures which have no roofing or corners are considered as 'agricultural tools' which need no construction permit; hence, they are not subject to halt-of-construction or demolition orders. However, in this case, the Israeli occupation authorities have violated their own law by ordering to halt the construction of this plastic tank, which proves that, in most cases, the Israeli decisions in this regard are not based on legal basis or engineering considerations but, rather on political goals.

Photo 3: The plastic water tank designed for agricultural purposes

Accumulation of orders

Since the beginning of this year, a total of 23 halt-of-construction and demolition decrees were issued by the Israeli occupation authorities against houses and other structures in the village of Deir Ballut. All these measures were taken under the same pretext of building without permits in Area A or of being located close to the path of the Israeli Segregation Wall which surrounds the village from west and southwest.

Background to Deir Ballut village

The village of Deir Ballut is located about 20 km to the west of Salfit city bordering the 1949 Armistice Line (Green Line). The village's total land area is 13940 dunums, out of which, 743 dunums are built up which is insufficient cater for construction needs of the community whose number totals now over 4500 people. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the percentage of unemployment in the village mounts to 64 which is one of the highest rates in that region due to the following reasons:

1.     The construction of the Wall which prevents local manpower form reaching their work places inside Israel;

2.     The separation and/or confiscation of the village land either by the Wall or by settlement, that is,  around 8000 dunums of fertile agricultural land have been separated behind the Wall (around 60% of the village's total land area)  and 500 dunums confiscated by the settlement of Pedu'el located to the east of the village; Pedu'el's settlement municipal area is 592 dunums, of which, 171 dunums are built up area and the total population recorded by the end of year 2006 is 116 Israeli settlers – source: (Foundation for Middle East Peace- Washington). 

Prepared by:
The Land Research Center
LRC