Israel Hits Al “Jiftlik” Village, north of Jericho Governorate

Location & Population

Al Jiftlik, a Palestinian village located to the north of Jericho Governorate at the central part of the Jordan Valley, it has a population of 4,401 (PCBS 2006) and sets on 81283 Dunums (see table 1 for landuse/ landcover for the village). Esh Shuna village borders it from the north, Fassayel from the south, Marj Al Ghazahl and Az Zubeidat villages from the east, and the Israeli bypass road number 508 from the west (map 1). The village is also surrounded from all directions from a cluster of Israeli military bases at its outskirts and several Israeli settlements beyond. See table 1 & 2.

ap of Al Jiftlik Village

 Table 1 of the Land use Land cover 2004 for “Al Jiftlik” Village Boundary

 ARIJ GIS – DATABASE 2006

Table 2 list the Israeli settlements on Al Jiftlik lands

ARIJ GIS – DATABASE 2006

Life disrupted in Al Jiftlik village

In January 23, 2007, the Israeli bulldozers stormed the village under the protection of the Israeli Army with an aim to demolish houses of residents under the pretext of building without proper permission from the Israeli civil administration. Four Palestinians’ houses and one store in the village, were demolished that day. The owners of the demolished houses and the store owned by:

• Mr. Hammad Hassan I‘eed.( House)

• Mr. Bassam Mahmoud Msa’eed.(House)

• Mr.Ali Salem Jahalin.(House)

• Mr.Ali Ghanayem.(House)

• Mr.Bashar Mubarak Bsharat. (Store)

It should be noted that the demolished residential houses were built out of wood as the people in Al Jiftlik are well aware and have experienced before this happening of the Israeli level of aggression and of their plan to evacuate their village as the rest of the Jordan valley from its Palestinian residents. Some 50 Palestinians are now homeless because of this demolishing and the residents of Al Jiftlik are anticipating more demolishing to take place in the future.

The destruction of the Palestinian residents in Al Jiftlik is only motivated by the Israeli desire to drive out the residents from their village in a voluntarily matter, by making their life impossible, moreover, the Israeli authorities revokes on a permanent bases the permits of the Jordan Valley residents who leave the valley for any substantial period of time or who do not have a permanent abode in the valley. These Israeli practices in the Jordan Valley aims to voluntary displace the Palestinian residents out of the Valley for good.

To Acquire a Building Licensing in Al Jiftlik

Building licenses in Al Jiftlik village (like the rest of West Bank villages), were obtained from the Israeli 'Civil Administration', from 1967 until Oslo Agreement in 1995. Before 1995, building licenses were very difficult and almost impossible to obtain, and the citizens waited for a long time before getting the license and most of the times fail to get it. After 1995 and the Classification of the West Bank land into A, B, C categories where A are the Lands under the complete Palestinian control, B are the lands were the Palestinian Authority has full control over the civil administration and Israel continues to have overriding responsibility for security, and C are the areas where the Palestinian authority has responsibility for civil life such as health and education while Israel retains full control over security and administration related to territory, including land.

This means that lands are located within areas classified as 'C' must continue to get the building license from the Israeli 'Civil Administration' where their permits most often are refused. This also happens to areas classified B as building permits and houses demolished under security pretext as the case in Al Jiftlik village, which is classified to areas B (209 dunums) and C (81,074 dunums).

To Concude

The Israeli methodic house destruction policies flagrantly violates the International humanitarian law, and the International law and conventions and United Nations resolutions, thus constituting 'Organized State Terrorism' and  'War Crime' against the people they occupy.

According to the Fourth Geneva Convention Israel is prohibited to demolish the Palestinian houses according to the Article 53 of the Convention which provides that: '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.

And the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965)

Article 5 provides that: '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'.

 Also, under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, Occupying Powers are prohibited from destroying Palestinian property or employing collective punishment except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations, and any extensive destruction of property on the Occupied Territories without military necessity constitutes a “War Crime’’. Article 147 of the Convention provides that “extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly” is a grave breach of the Convention.

In the year 2004 the United Nations Security Council called on Israel to stop demolition of Palestinian homes under resolution No. 1544-(2004), the resolutions provides that: 'The Security Council called on Israel to respect its obligations under international humanitarian law, particularly the obligation not to undertake home demolitions contrary to that law'.

Prepared by
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem
ARIJ