Forced displacement increases in East Jerusalem Bedouin communities
“Al Bu’ran Bedouin Community targeted with demolition”
Violation: demolishing 3 residences and 3 shacks
Location: Al Jahalin dwelling in Al Khan al Ahmar area – Hizma
Perpetrators: the Israeli Occupation Army
Victims: 29 Palestinians including 19 children
Date: October 31, 2011
Details:
The Jordan Valley area has been a target for intensified colonization in recent years; the attacks against Paletinian people, structures, and fields continue unabated. On October 31, 2011, Israeli troops accompanied by officers of the so-called Civil Administration broke into a nomad gathering in al Khan al Ahmar to the east of Jerusalem and nearby Maale Adummim colony.
The Israeli troops demolished 3 residences and 3 barns, all built in a primitive way using metal slabs, wood, and cloths. The demolitions rendered 40 people homeless as well as more than 260 ruminants in the open. The Israelis claim that the residents were built illegally omitting the fact that the owners and their families inhabited the area for more than 26 years.
Table 1: victims of the Israeli Aggression:
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Victim
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Family members
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Children
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Damages
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remarks
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Mohammad Jahaleen
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12
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8
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A metal house and a shed
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Previously notified
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|
Suleiman Jahaleen
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9
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5
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A metal house and a shed
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Previously notified
|
|
Salman Jahaleen
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8
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6
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A metal house and a shed
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Previously notified
|
|
Total
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29
|
19
|
|
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Picture 1-3: Al Jahaleen dwelling
Around 145 people of Al Jahaleen reside in al Khan al Ahmar area. They have been suffering the consequences of the Israeli Occupation since 1948. In 1950, Zionist gangs arbitrarily displaced Al Jahaleen from their homes in ‘Tal Arad’ in Beer Shiva.
Most of them moved to areas in the Jordan Valley while others moved to Jordan.
They suffered more than any other from the Israeli colonization machine. The Israelis placed Maale Adummim and Mishur Adummim around the dwellings of Al Jahaleen. The existence of these colonies gave the Israelis justification to demolish their houses and further deport them.
In 1967, the Israelis forced many of Al Jahaleen members, spreading all around the Jordan valley to reside in one single village; the Israelis called it Al Raghabna. 3000 people live in that village nowadays. Nevertheless, a lot of Al Jahaleen members spread around Al Khan al Ahmar area while maintaining their nomadic life style.
They have been a target for the Israeli unstoppable aggressions in past years which is evident in the house demolitions, land confiscations, and stealing of equipment and cattle.
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
The Land Research Center
LRC
At the end of October 2011, the Israeli Occupation Civil Administration, accompanied with the Israeli Occupation Army, raided the area of Arab Al-Bu’ran in Al-Khan Al-Ahmar Bedouin Community, demolished three tin-houses and confiscated the ruins and the salvaged properties of two demolished houses, and left the third house for the next demolition wave. Furthermore, the ICA demolished three Livestock barracks attached with the three demolished houses. Table 01 gives details of the demolished houses in Arab Al-Bu’ran Bedouin Community, Al-Khan Al-Ahmar, and Jerusalem Governorate.
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Table 01: The demolished Properties in Arab Al-Bu’ran Bedouin Community, Al-Khan Al-Ahmar, Jerusalem Governorate
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|||||
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No.
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Owner
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Type
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Area
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Built
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Population served
|
|
1.
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Muhammad Saleem Odeh Jahhalin
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Residential Tin House
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81 m²
|
1981
|
14 people
|
|
2.
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Muhammad Saleem Odeh Jahhalin
|
Tin Livestock Barracks
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60 m²
|
1981
|
150 heads
|
|
3.
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Salman Saleem Odeh Jahhalin
|
Residential Tin House
|
60 m²
|
1988
|
16 people
|
|
4.
|
Salman Saleem Odeh Jahhalin
|
Tin Livestock Barracks
|
25 m²
|
1988
|
5 heads
|
|
5.
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Suliman Saleem Odeh Jahhalin
|
Residential Tin House
|
60 m²
|
1978
|
10 people
|
|
6.
|
Suliman Saleem Odeh Jahhalin
|
Tin Livestock Barracks
|
25 m²
|
1978
|
100 heads
|
|
Source: ARIJ Field Team / November 2011
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The demolished properties are located within the Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc, in the area between Mishor Adumim (the industrial zone) and Kfar Adumim settlements, along the Israeli Bypass road number 1. The Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc holds many Palestinian Bedouin communities who lived in the area for more than 30 years. See Map 01 & Photos 1-6:
Map 01: The demolished homes and the Bedouin community of Arab Al-Bu’ran.
It is worth mentioning that in September 2011, the Israeli occupation authorities threatened to displace and relocate the Bedouin communities in East Jerusalem (the communities living in the area between Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc and An-Nabi Musa (Moses the profit). The plan, as declared, will be implemented beginning of January 2012 and will result in the displacement of more than 2500 Bedouins.
Israel claims that the evacuation of the communities is due to the national security of the Israeli settlements and the settlement blocs located around the city of Jerusalem but real aim behind this decision is to annex as much land as possible from the Palestinians to assure the future expansion of the Israeli settlements and enforce Jewish Majority in the city of Jerusalem.
The Segregation Wall plan around Ma’ale Adumim Settlements bloc.
The Israeli Segregation wall plan around Ma’ale Adumim is set to enfold Ma’ale Adumim settlements’ bloc to annex it to Jerusalem along with three other major settlements’ blocs that surround Jerusalem (Gush Etzion Settlements Bloc, Benyamin Settlements Bloc and Giv’at Ze’ev settlements Bloc) as made clear in the Israeli vision of ‘Greater Jerusalem’, Israel’s developmental vision of Jerusalem, which sets for the annexation of the aforementioned blocs to become the new borders of Jerusalem Municipality.
Furthermore, the wall plan is designed to further exclude Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem; in another meaning, upon wall completion, over 120,000 Palestinian Jerusalemites will no longer be part of the city as they will be set outside the borders of the Municipality and will lose their rights as residents of the city. See Map 02
Map 02:The Israeli Segregation Wall plan around Ma’ale Adumim settlments bloc
Conclusion
What Israel has been doing since 1967 war is considered systematic eradication, where it evacuate the land from its native inhabitants but encourage settlers to build whatever, wherever, and whenever they want under the pretext of Security and many other inconvenient pretexts, violating by that many international Laws, Conventions and UN resolutions.
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
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Article 11 (1): ‘The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions’.
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965)
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Article 5: ‘States’ Parties undertake to prohibit and eliminate racial discrimination in all of its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, color, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of the following rights: … (e) in particular … (iii) the right to housing’.
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.’
The Fourth Geneva Convention
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Article 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.’
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Article 47: ‘Protected persons who are in occupied territory shall not be deprived, in any case or in any manner whatsoever, of the benefits of the present Convention by any change introduced as the result of the occupation of a territory, into the institutions or government of the said territory, nor by any agreement concluded between the authorities of the occupied territory and the Occupying power, nor by any annexation by the latter of the whole or part of the occupied territory.’
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Article 147: ‘Grave breaches to which the preceding Article relates shall be those involving any of the following acts … extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.’
Hague Regulations 1907
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Section 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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Section III Article 46: ‘Family honor and rights, the lives of persons, and private property, as well as religious convictions and practice must be respected. Private property cannot be confiscated.’
Agenda 21 (UNCED, 1992)
Chapter 7.6 : ‘Access to safe and healthy shelter is essential to a person’s physical, psychological, social and economic well-being and should be a fundamental part of national and international action. The right to adequate housing as a basic human right is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Despite this, it is estimated that at the present time, at least one billion people do not have access to safe and healthy shelter and that if appropriate action is not taken, this number will increase dramatically by the end of the century and beyond.’
‘People should be protected by law against unfair eviction from their homes or land’.
Prepared by:
Categories:
Eviction of Palestinians
