Demolitions and Demolition Orders in Ad Deirat Village

Violation: demolishing two structures and a house and notifying two other houses, two other structures, a school, and the electricity network of demolition.

Date: February 15 and 17, 2010.

Violators: the Israeli Occupation Authorities.

Victims: Maryam al ‘Adra, Ahmad al ‘Adra, Yousuf al ‘Adra, Nasir al ‘Adra.

Location: Ad Deirat.

 

 

Ad Deirat: is located 6 km to the east of Yatta town. It is an agricultural village with around 400 inhabitants. The village is administered by a village council that has not a head quarter yet. Moreover, there are not any types of services in the village. The following clans reside in the village: Al Hamada, Masa’afiya, and Al ‘Adra. The village is torn apart by a by-pass road and is bordered by Yatta town from west, Maon colony and Um Lasfa from south, and Karmel colony, east.

 

On February 17, 2010, the Israeli Occupation Forces demolished the house of Maryam al ‘Adra using the usual ‘no permit’ excuse. Maryam stated that a group of Israeli soldiers showed up in the area a day earlier and when she asked, they said that it was a routine inspection.

 

Nevertheless, she was shocked to see the Israeli Army Bulldozers accompanied by the Civil Administration employees towards her house. The house, with a total area of 50 m2, was soon turned into rubble. The Israeli soldiers claimed that they delivered a demolition order but Maryam denied those allegations. Maryam, a widow, used to live with her mother who died a week prior to the demolition.  Now, she is living with her sister, another widow, in her dead father house.

 

Maryam stated to an LRC observer:’ I used to work as a tailor to save money for building a house to shelter me and my mother. In 1995, I had enough money to build it, now the Israelis destroyed the house that I worked hard to build’.

 

 

Moreover, the bulldozers used the rubble of Maryam’s house to block a nearby cave entrance. The Israeli Occupation Forces also destroyed a small room built out of cement blocks in front of a commercial shop that belonged to Ahmad al ‘Adra. Ahmad said that the bulldozers leveled the room after they were through with Maryam’s house.

 

On February 15, 2010, the Israeli Occupation Authorities handed demolition orders which targeted two residences, a water reservoir, and a barracks (used to shelter cattle). The Israelis gave the owners a week to demolish the aforementioned structures.

 

 

Fear could be smelled in the area after the surprise demolition of Maryam’s house since many of the houses in the area have already received demolition orders. The owners stated that they called for their lawyers to object on the demolition orders but they seemed desperate since the Israeli Occupation Authorities use the ‘no permits’ excuse to justify their outrageous acts and they never give permits to Palestinians living in areas classified ‘C’ according to Oslo Agreement.

 

Name	Family members	Area (m2)	Type of structure	status	Construction year	Picture
Yousuf al ‘Adra	3	120	Residential	Inhabited	2007
Nasir al ‘Adra	6	140	Residential	Inhabited	2004
Nasir al ‘Adra		70	Water reservoir	Used	2009
Nasir al ‘Adra		50	Barn	used	2004

 

 

The Israeli Occupation Authorities delivered a stop-work order to the school construction site. The order called for ‘immediate stoppage of the construction’.

 

Mohammad al ‘Adra, head of Ad Deirat village council, stated that a lawyer has been hired to object to the Israeli Order. He stated that the school is supposed to contain 8 classes designed to serve 100 students pointing that there are no schools in Ad Deirat, only rooms hired to serve the educational purposes. He also said that the Palestinian Ministry of Education was au courant about the school construction. However, the Occupation Authorities ruined the children dream of having a school.

 

The Israeli Occupation Authorities also threatened to devastate the electricity network that supplies the whole village. It must be known that this electricity network have been recently installed after connecting it with the power supply of the nearby ‘Um Lasfa’ village which in turn is supplied by the Palestinian Power Authority. Mohammad noted that the construction of the network was made on the expenses of the locals and the village council.

 

 

It is clear that the Israeli Occupation Authorities is aiming at all the aspects of Palestinian lives to make life harder than its already is and to make them leave the lands they are living in which makes colonial expansion a much easier task.