Tearing Down a Car Wash in Husan village – Bethlehem

Violation: demolishing a carwash

Location: Husan – Bethlehem.

Date: March 22, 2012.

Perpetrators: the so-called Organization and Inspection Committee – Israeli Occupation Civil Administration.

Victims: Firas Sabri – Said Shawasha.

 

Husan is one of the villages to the West of Bethlehem; it is 7 km away and is edged with the Armistice line and Al Qabu (west) (Al Qabu is one of the Palestinian villages that was evicted in 1948), Nahhalin and Al Khadr (south), Al Khadr (east), and Battir (north).

According to Husan Cultural Center, the village lost 5000 dunums to the Israeli colonization activities; leaving the residents with only 3000 dunums.

 

The village is rich with spring water, having more than 5 springs including Al Hawiyya, Al Sakhouna, Sabour, etc. Husan contains 3 mosques and a huge football field. According to the 2009 statistics, the village population has exceeded 8000 people.

 

Husan, like many other Palestinian villages, has been a target for several Israeli aggressions; in 2009, the Israeli Army threw a military order announcing the confiscation of 13.5 dunums for security reasons. According to the order, ‘to build the prevention wall needed to prevent hostiles from passing through’. In 2010, the colonists deliberately soaked Al Harayeq area with sewage water. A group of Israeli colonists pumped huge amounts of sewage water into the 20-dunum-land planted with figs, grapes, prunes, and olives.

 

On March 22, 2012, the Israeli Occupation Army demolished a carwash in Husan without issuing any warnings. The 300-m2 building is the property of Firas Shawasha who reconstructed it after the first demolition since it is the only source of living for his 4-member-family (including 2 children). The reconstruction cost around 35,000 ILS. His loss also included the confiscation of two containers which were used for storing equipment.