Israeli Stop Work Orders against Palestinian Houses and Structures in Khirbet Twani

Twani in Brief:

Khirbet Twani is located southeast of the town of Yatta. Its current population is around 250 Palestinian whose affairs are run by a local village council. The khirebt has a clinic, a mosque and a school. The drinking water for the khirbet is available through cisterns and water tankering. Electricity is provided by an electrical generator. The cost of running the generator is shared among all households in the khirbet. An unpaved road links the khirbet with the by-pass road 317. The khirbet is considered to be the hotspot for anti-occupation non-violent resistance in the south Hebron hills.

Israeli occupation forces distributed 9 Stop Work orders in the Khirebt in the second week of July, 2009 against 7 houses, a cistern and a cave.

 

The Orders declared that there will be a court hearing in Beit El on the 20^th of August, 2009 to discuss the “violations” and to take the initial steps to obtain a permit for the threatened structures. However, the fact still remains that Israeli occupation forces do not issue any such permits.

 

It is worth pointing out that these Orders were issued two days after a group of Havot Ma’on colonists demolished one of the houses under construction and uprooted olive trees close to the said house.

 

 

The targeted “houses” are small in size as its area range between 15 to 25 m². Its owners built them as to meet their natural growth needs. It is inconceivable that these “houses” form any kind of danger to the security of the State of Israel to the degree that they get a demolition order!!!!!!   

 

Twani and the Master Plan:

Twani is considered one of the khirbets that are surrounded by Israeli colonies, by-pass roads and outposts. Israeli authorities have granted the khirbet a Master Plan of sort as it does not exceed 1 km². The inability to build beyond the Master Plan limits caused a housing crunch as it became common to find 15 people living in a 90-m² house in the khirbet.

 

The owners of the threatened houses have indicated to Land Research Center’s field researcher that they intended to place their married children in these houses due to the housing crunch faced by the khirbet. Others indicated that building these structures aims at protecting the land and safeguarding it from further colonial expansion. The following table lists the threatened houses and the name of their owners:

No.	Name	Area in m2	Family Members	Photo  No.
1	Fadel Ahmad Rabaei	16	14
2	Jadallah Shihada Rabaei	20	12
3	Mufdi Ahmad Rabaei	15	12
4	Mohammad Ali Rabaei	15	13
5	Ribhi Ahmad Rabaei	20	20
6	Khalil Ahmad Rabaei	25	12
7	Na’eim Salem Al Adara	25	12
TOTAL		136	95

 

The following table lists the threatened structures in the khirbet of Twani:

No.	Name	Type of Structure	Photo  No.
1	Mohammad Issa Rabaei	130 m3
2		Cave

 

During the distribution of the Stop Work orders, Israeli occupation forces arrested Mr. Suleiman Issa Al Adara for allegedly threatening a soldier. He is still detained as of the writing of this report.

 

Additional violations were recorded in the southern parts of Yatta including the death of the 7-year old boy Ahmad Hamadeh on the 12^th of July, 2009. The Hamamdeh child was with his father and two sisters when a colonist hit (with his car) the tractor the family was using to get back to their home from a nearby wedding. The father and two sisters were listed in critical condition.

 

 

 Moreover, the nearby Susiya colonists have carried out a series of attacks throughout the years against the Palestinian residents of the khirbet of Suseya. The last such attack was last month when Susiya colonists set a tent in which four Palestinians were sleeping ablaze. Fortunately, no deaths or injuries were reported. This report details the attack and the burning of the tent.

 

Also, Israeli occupation forces and colonists from the colony of Karmel attacked Palestinians of the nearby community of Umm Al Khair which led to the injury of 3 Palestinians from Al Hathaleen clan. Such attacks have been forthcoming more frequently lately while Israeli occupation forces and colonists have been actively preventing Palestinian herders from accessing tens of dunums surrounding the colony in an effort to confiscate hundreds of dunums into the colony as illustrated by the following case study.