The Israeli Policy of Displacement in Action
Israel issued stop-work orders against 14 agricultural and residential structures in Bartaa village- Jenin Governorate

June 25, 2014

Violation: Issuing stop-work orders against 14 agricultural and residential structures
Date: 25/06/2014
Location: Barta'a village- Jenin governorate
Perpetrators: The Planning and Construction Committee  of the Israeli Civil Administration
Victims: 13 families from Barta'a 
 

Details:

Barta'a village is a living example of the bitter truth and reality of living under occupation including being subject to displacement, division, land confiscation and population transfer.

Today and after 47 years of the 1967 war, the Israeli occupation still embraces and implements the policy of forcible displacement on Barta'a's residents by strangling them with the Apartheid Wall from the eastern side and thus isolating it as well as prohibiting people from constructing new houses or renovating old ones, leading the village to become detached and undeveloped.

Stop-work orders on 14 agricultural and residential structures:  

The Planning and Construction Committee  of the Israeli Civil Administration handed 13 families from Barta'a stop-work orders against their residential and agricultural structures under the pretext of unlicensed construction in an area classified "C" according to Oslo Accords.

According to the military orders, the families are given a respite till July 25 to proceed with obtaining a building permit. The same date was set for the Planning and Construction Committee in Beit El court to consider the legal status of the structures and approve the procedures of applying for a permit that most Palestinians do not get any way because of the Israeli occupation almost impossible requirements.

Orders by large numbers with no hope at putting an end to this dilemma:

About Israel's violation of the right to residence, Mr. Ghassan Qabha told an LRC observer that: "Barta'a due to its strategic location and proximity to the 1948 borders, had made it a target for the Israeli occupation greed and colonial plans practiced in places within the green line like Aker, Haifa, and Jaffa, etc. Locations might differ, but the policy is the same.

Commenting on the number of notified houses, Qabha had to say the following: "More than 190 agricultural, industrial and residential structures are threatened with either stop-work orders or demolition. 38 structures were demolished during the past 10 years."

The table gives information about the threatened structures according to Barta'a village council:

Procrastination and bureaucracy and lots of wasted money

What is the fate awaiting the targeted structures? And what is the role of the civil society organizations in protecting them?

These questions were asked to deputy mayor of Jenin governorate, Mr. Muhammad Barakat who asserted: "the legal department in Jenin is keeping a close eye on Israel's attempts at Judaizing the village and has formed a committee comprised of Jenin and Jerusalem center for legal aid as well as a number of lawyers from within the Green Line who follow up with the procedures of obtaining building permits for the threatened structures in Barta'a in order to provide them with protection from the Israeli occupation attacks."

Barakat added that: "The real problem is going through the complicated, long, tiring and very expensive procedures of obtaining a permit. The Israeli occupation either procrastinates or revokes the requests. Despite all the hardships, the Legal Departments managed to make the Israeli occupation issue a number of permits for some buildings. Nonetheless, most requests of issuing a license are refused."

About Barta'a:   

In the 1948 war, the Israeli occupation seized vast areas of Barta'a. The truce line approved by the United Nations split the village to two parts. The eastern half was under the Jordanian authority. But despite that, east Barta'a (Ash Sharqiya) has not been spared from the Israeli occupation's harassment. Since 1967, the people of the village have been suffering from the occupation. The latter targets people on daily basis. Let alone, the residences that are either demolished or threatened of being demolished under the pretext of unlicensed construction in an area classified "C" according to Oslo Accords.

More than 36 structures were demolished and more than 170 structures are threatened of demolition. The Israelis claim that it is done on the pretext that the target structures are built in areas classified 'C'; however, the true purpose is evicting the Palestinian residents to empty the lands.

Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC