Demolition Orders in Shufa- TulKarm Governorate

 Violation: the issuance of 7 demolition orders designated for 7 residential structures and 2 basements.

Perpetrators: the so-called Organization and Construction Committee, the Israeli Occupation Civil Administration.

Date: September 29, 2011.

Victims: 7 Palestinian families, around 40 people.

Location: Shufa, TulKarm.

 

In a step towards depriving the Palestinians from their basic rights, including their right to residency, Israeli troops accompanied by the so-called Israeli Cicil Administration broke into the Palestinian village of Shufa and handed the citizens 7 stop-work and demolition orders. It has to be pointed that some of the notified owners had received similar orders 6 months earlier.

 

According to the orders, the owners must immediately commence the process of acquiring construction permits and prepare all the needed documents and maps including aerial photographs, blueprints, and ownership certificates, among others. The locals have already provided those documents; however, the recent orders reflect the Israeli willingness to demolish the houses regardless.

 

‘The Israelis are consuming the living and the dead‘. With these words, Mu’aweya Mousa (41) of Shufa, one of the victims, tried to express his contempt to the Israeli measures.He tried to point out the Israeli needless delays in regard to the issuance of the permits as well as the high costs.He also indicated that most, if not all, of the construction permits applications were rejected for no apparent reasons.

 

On the other hand, Mr. Numan Droubi, Shufa Village Council, said: ‘Shufa has been an Israeli target for a while; the Israelis split the village into two parts (Shufa and ‘Izbit Shufa) using road blockades and checkpoints as well as taking over the eastern part of the village to be used for military purposes. The rest of village lands are no-construction-areas. The Israelis are imposing laws to fight the Palestinians in their lands, houses which have become unsafe!‘

 

Victim	Structures	Family members	Specifications	Remarks	picture
Mu’aweya Mousa	2	7	Under construction, one story and a basement	Notified previously	1
Ahmad Sha’ar	1	6	Under construction, one story	Notified previously	2
Fuad Ismael	1	2	Under construction, one story	Notified previously	3
Raed al Safareeni	2	9	Under construction, one story and a basement		4
Ammar Salama	1	6	Under construction, one story	Notified previously
Amin Odeh	1	8	Under construction, one story		5
Rifat al Safareeni	1	2	Under construction, one story
	9	40

Shufa is located 8 km to the south of TulKarm city. It is total area is 12000 dunums out of which 7000 were confiscated to be used for colonial expansion purposes. It is inhabited by around 2500 people.

 

Colony	Established	Built-up area	inhabitants
Avne Hefetz	1987	1397	964
Innab	1981	696	550

In addition, a by-pass has ripped the village apart hindering any chances of future development. Furthermore, the Israelis have planted surveillance cameras and watch towers all around the village. They tend to disturb the peace of the villageby breaking into it on the pretext of ensuring the security of Avne Hefetz. The Israelis also prevent the farmers from exploiting their fields located nearby the aforementioned colony turning the fields into barren lands.