The Demolition of 26 Structures in Arab Al Muleihat East of Dier Dibwan

January 4, 2009

Arab Al Muleihat tribe is a Palestinian community located east of the village of Dier Dibwan in an area known as Magahyer Al Dier in the governorate of Ramallah. It is considered the second largest gathering for Arab Al Muliehat in the West Bank. The largest gathering is located in Al Mua’arrajat area in the Jordan Valley. The population of the gathering in Ramallah is about 750 Palestinians living in 250 households. They live in tents and tin shacks as they depend on herding as the main and only source of income. The tribe has been living in this location for the past 35 years. See Map 1

The community targeted since the early 1980’s:

Since the beginning of the 1980’s Israeli occupation forces has paid a number of visits to the living quarter of the tribe which used to reside in Al Araqa area 7 kilometers east of the current location. The community was forced to leave its original residence place as occupation forces claimed that it was designed to be used for military purposes. These forces chose the current location for the tribe to reside in and ever since then the tribe was living there with no objection from the occupation forces which established a school and provided the community with its own water pipeline.

However, in September 2008 the so-called Israeli “Civil Administration” came to the tribe and submitted a number of demolition orders to its residents. The orders stipulated that the demolition is planned to take place within 30 days. The owners of the targeted shelters filed a legal petition against the demolition via the office of the member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Mr. Hatem Abdel Qader. So far, according to the lawyer Hasan Muleihat, no official reply has been provided by the relevant Israeli occupation authorities.

Yet, the ghost of demolition was always present; on the morning of Thursday October 30th, 2008 no prior warning was given to the residents before they saw Israeli bulldozers, accompanied by a large protection force, demolish their structures. Human and animal shelters were razed before even giving the residents the chance to remove their belongings. The demolished structures included 26 bruxes used to shelter them and their animals. On the same day, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) provided 5 tents for 5 homeless families in the community. The other homeless families were hosted by other families in the community.

The following table lists the demolished structures, its owners and other relevant information:

Name	Type of Structure	Area (in m2)	Family Members Affected	Family Members Displaced	Year Built
Ali Suleiman Musa Suleiman	Living premises + sheep brux	108	7		1950
Atta Suleiman Ibrahim	Living premises	72		10	1961
Musa Suleiman Muas Sueliman	Living premises	90		10	N/A
Yousef Ahamd Ali Ka’abna	Living premises	108		3	N/A
Ismaeil Khaled	Living premises	108		10	1968
Mohammad Khamis Ka’abna	Living premises	90		12	N/A
Mohammad Suleiman Muleihat	Living premises	72		5	1954
Dawood Awwad Suleiman Muleihat	Living premises	108		5	1977
Suleiman Awwad Suleiman Muleihat	Animal brux	108	10	10	1974
Ibrahim Attallah Suleiman Mulihat	Living premises	108		4	1976
Mohammad Suleiman Ibrahim Mulihat	Living premises + animal shelter	90		10	1964
Abdel Latif Attalah Suleiman Mulihat	Living premises	108		4	1980
Mohammad Ali Suleiman Mulihat	Living premises	108		4	1983
Awwad Suleiman Musa Mulihat	Living premises + sheep brux	108		10	1952
Jibreel Sueliman Mulihat	Living premises + sheep brux	108		5	1954
Attallah Suleiman Mulihat	Living premises + sheep brux	108		8	1954
Suleiman Atallah Suleiman Mulihat	Living premises + sheep brux	108		Single	1990
Hussein Attallah Suleiman Mulihat	Living premises	108		4	N/A
Ahmad Mohammad Irheiman Mulihat	Living premises	108		5	1977
Ibrahim Mohammad Irheiman Mulihat	Living premises + sheep brux	108		12	N/A
Mahmoud Mohammad Irheiman Mulihat	Living premises + sheep brux	108		4	N/A
Mohammad Ahmad Ali Ka’abana	Living premises + sheep brux	108		8	1974
Jibreel Awwad Suleiman Mulihat	Living premises + sheep brux	108		6	1979
Ahmad Awwad Suleiman Mulihat	Living premises + sheep brux	108		5	1978
Mahmoud Suleiman Ibrahim Mulihat	Living premises + sheep brux	108		8	N/A
Suleiman Atta Suleiman	Living premises + sheep brux	108		4	1980
TOTAL		2682	7	166