Demolishing a restaurant in al Makhrour – Beit Jala city

Violation: demolishing a restaurant.

Location: al Makhrour – Beit Jala.

Date: May 3, 2012.

Perpetrators: the so-called Organization and Construction Committee.

Victim: Nakhla Qisiyya.

 

 At dawn, on May 3, 2012, Israeli troops and a dozer demolished a 340-m2 restaurant in al Makhrour area on the pretext on unlicensed construction. The restaurant was the sole source of income for Nakhla Qisiyya’s family (5 members). The family has been trying to obtain a license for a while but their efforts were futile. The losses are estimated be around 350,000 ILS.

 

  

 

 

 

 It is located 1 km to the west of Bethlehem and 8 km to the south west of the Occupied City of Jerusalem. 3147 dunums (22%) of the town’s lands were confiscated to expand the borders of ‘greater Jerusalem’ and a number of surrounding colonies including:

Area and Location: 

Beit Jala is inhabited by 16700 Palestinians (PCBS). Its total area is 14337 dunums divided into 6142 dunums (area ‘A’), 91 dunums (area ‘B’), and 8104 dunums (area ‘C’) (Oslo Interim Agreement 1995).

 

Al Makhrour is a valley located to the west of Beit Jala; it has been targeted by the Israelis since the first days of occupation because of its strategic location. It is surrounded by the bypass leading to the Occupied City of Jerusalem (east), al Walaja (north), Battir (west), and al Khader (south). Its total area is around 3500 dunums planted mostly with prunus and olives.