Halt of construction notifications against mosque, houses and stone quarries in Beit Einun

April 15, 2009

On March 18, 2009, the Israeli occupation authorities distributed a number of halt of construction notifications against a mosque, houses and stone quarries in the area of Beit Einun north east of Hebron city. The notifications were handed over to owners by employees at the so-called civil administration in the West Bank based in Beit Eil near Ramallah accompanied by Israeli army personnel during a day time raid. All the owners were summoned to Beit Eil court for hearing on April 2, 2009.

(Photos A,B,C: copies of the halt of construction notifications issued
by the Israeli occupation authorities)

Speaking to LRC field worker the owners indicated that after the handing over of the notifications the Israelis began to take shots of all the notified homes and quarries including a recently built mosque under the name of Al Atqiya’. The following table gives more details about the notified homes:

#	House owner’s name	Area M²	# of family mem	Building status
1	Ra’id Yusif Tarawa	90	3	Under construction
2	Na’il Yusif Tarawa	90	4	Under construction

(Photos 1 & 2: photos of the two notified homes which are still under construction )

Half a million Sheqel loss as a result of Israeli decision

Two quarries were ordered stopping, one owned by Yusif and Mohammed Tarawa over an area of one square dunum. This action caused the loss of at least half a million Sheqel (NIS) and deprived the owners of benefiting from their land and property.

(Photo 3: photo of Yusif and Mohammed Tarawa’s quarry that was ordered stoppage)

Moreover, the closure of this quarry deprived machinery owners and workers who went into partnership with the land owner of the right of benefiting from this project.

As regards the second closed quarry it was over 3 square dunums of land owned by Ayman Ali Daood whose total family members is 20. The owner is now left with no alternative income to his large family.

(Photo 4: photo of one section of Ayman Daood’s quarry that was ordered stoppage)

Mosque construction stopped

Even the construction work in the only mosque in the area which started last year was ordered to stop under the pretext of un-licensing. The total area of the mosque is 250 M² which could take up to 300 prayers at a time. The Israeli soldiers who arrived at the scene stuck the halt of construction paper at its main door.

(Photos 5 & 6: photos of Al Atqiya’ mosque )

It is worth mentioning that the colonial bypass road number 60 was built in alignment with the Beit Einun village at the beginning of the nineties of the last century causing the demolition of several houses in order to make room for the construction of this road.

Beit Einun citizens feel worried

Following this development the Beit Einun citizens are worried about the likelihood of opening a new short –cut colonial road in their land to reduce the travel distance in the current road leading to colonies that are located in the northern suburbs of Hebron district. Local people told LRC field researcher that according to their own sources the bid for this project is complete, confirming that if this project was put in action it would destroy and confiscate hundreds of dunums of agricultural land belonging to the villages of Sa’ir, as Shuyukh and Bani Na’im east and north east of Hebron city.