Notice of demolition for three agricultural facilities in Rantis village / Ramallah governorate

July 16, 2020

• Violation: orders of demolition for three agricultural facilities.
• Location: Rantis town, northwest of Ramallah.
• Date: June 3^rd/ July 15^th   2020.
• Perpetrator: the so-called Israeli Civil Administration.
• Affected people/ victims:  Three families from the town.

Violation details:

 On Wednesday, June 3^rd 2020, the Israeli occupation forces, accompanied by the construction and organization officer of the so-called Israeli Civil Administration, stormed the eastern area of ​​the town of Rantis, located to the northwest of Ramallah, and gave a farmer a final halt of work and demolition notice on an agricultural facility he owns, under the pretext of construction without a license.

 The same thing was repeated when the occupation authorities stormed Rantis another time in July 15^th 2020, and delivered two final halt of work and demolition notices on other structures, the owners were given only 7 days to object.

Demolition notices by name of victim, family members, number of notices and issue dates:

Source: Filed work – Israeli Violations Watch Division – Land Research Center – July 2020

Citizen Mo’ath Ayed Al-Khatib, 31 years old, and one of those affected, gave the following statement to LRC:

“At the beginning of this year, we built agricultural facilities on our land.  Noteworthy, the plot is far from the bypass road and any Israeli settlement, and the whole area is an agricultural area. However, we were surprised by the new Israeli demolition notice, through which the occupation wants to loot our lands , in order to keep it as a colonial reserve for future expansionist projects. During the past five years, the occupation targeted a number of facilities with demolition in the town, the last of which was the demolition of a shack and an agricultural room last May . Many other demolition notices were also issued for the same purpose against structures in the town “.

Rentis town[1]:

The town of Rantis is located 35 km northwest of Ramallah, bordered on the north by the village of Al -Liban Al Gharbi,  on the west by the the Green Line, on the east by Al- Liban Al Gharbi, and on the south by Shuqba. Its total population is 3179 people, according to the census of 2017. Its total area is 10,780 dunums, of which 647 dunums are a built-up area of ​​the village.

Since the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank in 1967, Rantis’s land has been under constant confiscation as followed: 

• 218 dunams were seized to build the bypass road No. 465 connecting Israeli settlements with Israel;
• 414 dunums were confiscated for the construction of the Apartheid wall, and 1616 dunums were isolated behind it.

 The land of Rantis is classified according to the Oslo Agreement as followed:

• Areas classified as B – 1,328 dunums.
• Areas classified as C -9,452 dunums.

 There are also a number of small old villages (Khirbets) around the mother town of Rantis that indicate the ancient character and authenticity of the area. They include the following:  ‘Deir Alla, Barish, Khirbet Mesmar, Deir Degla, Al-Dur, Al-Ras, the shrine of Saad and Saeed and the shrine of Arbaeen.

The town of Rantis is inhabited by the following families: Khalaf, Hadan, Ballout, Riahi, and Abu Salim.

[1] GIS-LRC