A new wave of demolition in Al Dyouk Al Tahta village – Jericho Governorate

Under the protection of more than 30 Israeli Army Vehicles and 100 Israeli Soldiers,  the Israeli Civil Administration accompanied with two occupation dozers raided on the 15^th of November 2011, Sbieh neighborhood in Al-Dyouk Al-Tahta Village, in Jericho Governorate and demolished 4 Palestinian houses in the village and a retaining wall under the pretext of being built without a building permit. Table 1 gives details of the demolished houses in Al-Dyouk Al-Tahta Village, in Jericho Governorate.

 

Table 1: The demolished houses in Al-Dyouk Al-Tahta Village, in Jericho Governorate.
No.	Owner	Type of Facility	Total Area	Population (2011)	Built in
1.	Ammar Al Fakhouri	Residential house	200 m²	5 people	11/2009
2.	Ammar Al Fakhouri	Swimming pool	66 m²	–	11/2009
3.	Ammar Al Fakhouri	Retaining wall	20 m²	–	11/2009
4.	Misbah Ali Mttour	Residential house	100 m²	7 people	03/2008
5.	Yousef Ali Al-Zallam	Residential house	100 m²	5 people	10/2007
6.	Muammad Al-Shiekh Ali Al-Thouli	Residential house	170 m²	6 people	10/2010
7.	Muhammad Sistawi	Retaining wall	600 m²	14 people	07/2011
8.	Total	—	1256 m²	37 people	—
Source: (1)ARIJ Field Workers / 2011 (2) Head of Al-Dyouk Al-Tahta village Council

 

Furthermore, the Israeli Civil Administration was about to demolish a fifth house owned by Majid Atawneh., but Mr. Atawnehouse went up on the roof of his house along with his family, and settled there, choosing to be buried under the ruins of his home, rather than see his house demolished.

 

The area where the demolitions occurred is classified as Area C, where Israel retains full control, administrative and security, over the area and therefore Palestinians living in this area, are asked to issue a building permit for any building/construction they’re to add. See Map 1 for more information.

 

 

  

   

  

  

 

In another incident and related to the demolition that took place in the targeted area, five Jewish Rabbis accompanied with 3 Israeli military Jeeps and the Israeli Civil Administration came to the area before 15 days from the demolition date and settled in the archeological site ‘Herod the Great’ located in the area of the demolition. The Rabbis stayed there for 5 hours and demanded to excavate for monuments and remnants of their Jewish Ancestors in the archeological site as claimed. Head of Al Dyouk Al Tahta Village council, Suleiman Younis Fheidat stated that the area that the Rabbis invaded is a Palestinian area, and that he has all the documents to prove so; moreover, Mr. Fheidat showed the classification Code of the land, Bloc #6 – Otol Al-Dyouk – Parcel #1 – Jordanian Classification.

 

The village of Al-Dyouk Al-Tahtahas been extensively raided during the last couple of years by the Israeli civil Administration and the Israeli Occupation army and most especially in the last 6 months. These raids and attacks were for giving out demolition orders and halt-of–Construction notifications which amounted already to 30 demolition orders and two third of thevillage’s houses are notified with halt-of-construction, all under the pretext of not being authorized to build in area C and not having the recommended papers and license to build from the Israeli civil Administration.

 

Furthermore, the Israeli Civil Administration is nowadays using a new policy to alert people with demolition as stated by villagers of Al-Dyouk Al-Tahta; Officers of the Israeli Civil Administration gave alerts to Palestinian owners, and took images of the alerted properties from every angle, and sent them under coded files to the Israeli Civil Administration Central Headquarters in Beit El – Ramallah. The people who were the first to undergo such a new policy are:

1.     Abd Al-Aziz Al-Shwieki

2.     Mansour Abu Wahdan

3.     Imad Al-Ramouni

4.     Samer Al-Tawyil

 

Al-Dyouk Village is located to the northwest of Jericho city, with a total distance of 8 Km. The village is bordered by Ein Al-Dyouk Al-Fouqa, An Nuwei’ma and Deir Qruntol (Qruntol Monastery) from the north, Deir Al Qalt (Al Qalt Monastery) and Aqbat Jaber refugee camp and the settlement of Vered Yericho from the south, Jericho city from the east and four Israeli military bases from the west.

 

The village of Al-Dyouk has a total land Area of 59,464 dunums, including 4470 dunums form the built-up area. The lands of Al-Dyouk village are classified into Areas B & C according to Oslo II Interim Agreement of 1995, where 28,221 dunums (47.5% of the total village area) are classified as ‘Area B’, and 31,242 dunums (52.5% of the village’s total area) are classified as ‘Area C’, including 103 dunums occupied by Israeli military bases, and 29 dunums are classified as mined fields and dumping sites. Photo 20 below shows some of the Israeli military bases, walls and fences in Al-Dyouk Village, in Jericho Governorate. See Photo 20

 

 

It is worth mentioning that what the Israeli Occupation army and Civil Administration are carrying out in the Occupied Palestinian territory is illegal, and tragically violates International Laws & Human Rights conventions. Furthermore, Israel by such actions, is neglecting all the voices calling for halting the demolition campaign carried out against Palestinian houses and properties and condemning it.

 

The Fourth Geneva ConventionArticle 53: ‘Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or to other public authorities, or to social or cooperative organizations, is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.’

Universal declaration of human rights, Article 17:1.     ‘Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.’

2.     ‘No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.’

Article 25:

1.     ‘Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.’

Hague Regulations 1907Section II Article 23: ‘it is especially forbidden- to destroy or seize the enemy’s property, unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war.’

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[1]  Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949.

http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/full/380

[2]  Universal declaration of human rights
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

[3]  Universal declaration of human rights
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

[4]  Convention (IV) respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land and its annex: Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land. The Hague, 18 October 1907.