Stop Work Orders Against 24 Houses, a factory and a Playground in Far’oun Town

Violation: The issuing of 24 Stop Work orders against houses, a factory and a playground in the town of Far’oun in the Governorate of Tulkarem

Violator: The Committee for Organization and Building in the Israeli occupation Army.

Date: Monday August 9^th, 2010.

 

On the early noon hours of Monday August 9^th, 2010, Israeli occupation forces accompanied employees of the Committee for Organization and Building in their raid into the town of Far’oun south of the city of Tulkarem. They went to a number of houses located in the eastern side of the town and delivered Stop Work orders to the owners of a number of houses, an ironsmith workshop, a thyme factory in addition to the municipal play field. The Orders were issued under the pretext that the targeted structures were built without permits in Area C.

 

The occupation forces gave part of the owners until the 19^th of August, 2010, to file for an appeal against these orders while the other part was given until the 2^nd of September, 2010, to do the same. The following table lists the targeted structures and its relevant information:

 

No.	Affected Person	structures	No. of Family Members	Nature of the Structure	# Picture		Orders
1	Mahmoud Khaled Khalil Shama’	1	7	Under construction house	1		1
2	Munir Hasan Idwan	1	5	First floor under construction	2		2
3	Khaled Husein Salameh	1	5	An ironsmith workshop	3		3
4	Mu’atasem Mirshed Muhanna	1	7	1st  floor undergoing final building stages			4
5	Nihad Saleh Obeid	1	5	Two stories under construction	4		5
6	Ammar Fawzi Khader	3	7	3 floors undergoing final building stages			6
7	Bassam Salim Salman	1	5	Thyme factory			7
8	Munir Abdullah Omar	1	8	Thyme factory			8
9	Hamdan Ahmad Drobi	3	6	3 floors undergoing final building stages			9
10	Ahmad Mahmoud Hattab	1	8	1st floor under construction			10
11	Abdel Rahman Hasan Hattab	2	8	Two floors under construction
12	Mohammad Ahmad Musleh	2	5	2 floors undergoing final building stages			11
13	Ali Ibraheem Abu Jamous	2	6	2 floors undergoing final building stages			12
14	Numan Deeb Hizmawi	1	9	1st floor under construction	5		13
15	Samer Masoud Khalil	1	6	Inhabited first floor			14
16	Tawfeeq Zaki Arafat	1	5	1st floor under construction			15
17	The playground of the Municipal Council of Far’oun	1	0	An area of 10 dunums			16
TOTAL		24	102

 

In terms of the municipal playground, it was established in 1970 in the western area of the village. The Israeli Racist Isolation Wall was established in close proximity of the playground. Recently, the Palestinian Ministry of Finance spent $180,000 in rehabilitating the playground as to be used as place for entertainment for the youth and the children of the town. Such a place is very important for the town as it lost its breathing space in the aftermath of building the Racist Wall on its lands which affected negatively the agricultural sector in the town.

 

The town of Far’oun has witnessed over the years of the Second Intifada a series of destructive campaigns and consecutive raids while a large number of demolition and Stop work orders were issued against its houses and industrial shops. Pretexts used by the occupation forces in issuing these orders ranged between being located close to the Racist Wall and being constructed without prior license or permit in Area C.

 

The town of Far’oun is considered one of the most targeted towns and villages in Tulkarem Governorate by the Israeli occupation authorities in terms of violations against housing rights as more than 40 Stop Work orders were issued since the year 2002 mostly in the western and southern area of the town. In addition to that, two houses were actually demolished in the town on the 22^nd of January, 2004. The houses belonged to Mr. Faleh Rashad Hasan Issa and Mr. Wa’el Subhi Mohammad Idwan as they were demolished due to their close proximity to the Racist Wall.

 

In addition to the aforementioned details, Israeli occupation forces are stanchly against the idea of enlarging the Master Plan of the town as to accommodate the natural expansion of residents. That is at a time that these forces do not spare any effort to devour additional lands of the town especially in its western side. The confiscated lands will be used to enlarge the Iyal Crossing which reflected negatively on the lives of the residents of the town.

 

The town of Far’oun is located 3 kilometers south of the city of Tulkarem. Its area is estimated to be 8,000 dunums. The town lost 4,000 dunums of its lands as it became isolated behind the Racist Wall which spans a distance of 5 kilometers on the town’s southern and western directions. Its population stands at around 3,500 most of who work in agriculture. Around 70% of the lands of the town are planted with citrus and olive trees. The agriculture sectors, however, has been negatively affected due to the lack of rainwater and land confiscation by the occupation forces.