A house demolished in Qarawet Bani Hassan village

(Photo 1 : Qarawat Bani Hassan: the ruins of the house of Mr. Hakim Asi)

at the early hours of Wednesday, 22. 8. 2007, Israeli bulldozers moved towards the village of Qarawet Bani Hassan, Salfit, to demolish the house of Mr. Hakim Mustaf Asi, 32 years old, under the pretext of building without license. The house is built of two floors with a total surface area of 220 square meters. Mr. Asi started to get his house built in January, 2004, but, in March the same year he received a halt – construction notification from the Israeli occupation authorities through the village local council.

According to the notification he was asked to commence licensing procedures with the Israeli authorities at Beit Eil ' Israeli civil administration' as the house is located in zone C which is under total Israeli security and civic affairs by Oslo agreement.

Mr. Asi hired a lawyer to pursue the case and by September, 2005, he had got all the required licensing documents prepared including surveying of land, land ownership certificate and photos the threatened house. The file was presented to Beit Eil military court, nevertheless, it refused to get the house licensed under the pretext that the house design and dimensions were not compliant to Israeli standards. This decision prompted Mr. Asi to totally halt construction at his home.

(Photo 2 & 3: Qarawat Bani Hassan: the ruins of the house of Mr. Hakim Asi)

The victim's family is formed of 8 members, two of them were preparing to get married at their family house once it has been finished. This hope has vanished after the destruction of the house.

More demolition threats

The Israeli occupation authorities distributed so far 28 house demolition threats under the pretext of un-licensing in Qarawet Bani Hassan, the latest of which were distributed last July.

Table 1: Houses threatened with demolition in Qarawet Bani Hassan by
victim's name, ID number, threat type and threat date

 Source: Field work by LRC

(Photo 4 & 5: a copy of  the halt construction and copy of house
demolition notifications distributed by the Occupation authorities)

It is worth mentioning here that few months before the signing of the Oslo accords, the Israeli occupation authorities had finished the unilateral process of drawing up and circulation of master plans for all the Palestinian cities, towns and villages in the West Bank in a step that aimed at creating  a new reality on the ground by confining the Palestinian building expansion to certain areas before going into bilateral talks with Palestinians. As a result, the Palestinians are now paying the price for this unjust policy. The village of Qarawer Bani Hassan is only one example.

In many situations, as in Qarawat Bani Hassan,  the Israeli announced master plans did exclude some parts of the built up areas which were in existence prior to the announcement of 1993's master plans. For example, an area of 333 dunums from Qarawat Bani Hassan's built up zone enforced by the Israeli authorities on 27.11.1990 was not included in the master plan of 1993 despite the fact that it contained a number of houses whose some dates back to the Jordanian era.

According to Oslo classifications, zone C remains under Israeli jurisdiction, and, as such, no Palestinian is allowed to build there unless he obtains permission from the Israeli side. The Palestinian local authorities are not allowed to issue any building permissions in zone C, even, they cannot stop any Palestinians from building in this area under his own responsibility. This situation has complicated matters to the Palestinian local authorities and hindered any possibilities for future expansion. In the meanwhile, the affected house owners live in constant fear because of the threat of demolition.

Qarawat Bani Hassan

During the Palestinian exodus of 1948, a number of Palestinian citizens from the village of Kafr Bara (currently inside Israel) fled to their extended land to the east of the truce line (armistice line) and began to form a new community under the name of Qarawat Bani Hassan.

The post 1948 village is located 7 km to north west of Salfit city and 6 km from the green line. Now, the village has the total population of 4192 ( Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics).  As regards the land area, the village has the total area of 9387 dunums of which only 875 dunums as built up area. See Map 1

Ever since the military occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the land and people of Qarawat Bani Hassan has been under constant Israeli pressure affecting their social, economic and political life.  In 1982, for example, more than 55 dunums of the village land were expropriated for the establishment of Kiryat Netafim settlement at the eastern edge of the village ( established in 1982, pop. in 2005 was 438, municipal area is 1540 dunums, built up area is 162 dunums- Source: Foundation for Middle East peace, Washington). 

Other colonies that border Qarawat Bani Hassan from east and south east (the area targeted with the current demolition campaign ) are Barqan (established in 1981, pop. In 2005 was 1231, municipal area is 2720 dunum, built up area is 349 dunums – source: ibid) and Revava (established in 1991, pop. In 2005 was 827, municipal area is 1540 dunum, built up area is 160 dunums – source: ibid). In addition, hundreds of dunums were also taken for the construction of the Trans Samaria highway over its southern land parts.

The humanitarian situation sharply deteriorated after the outbreak of the second uprising in the year 2000 where 60% of the population became jobless after the construction of the Annexation and Expansion Wall at the eastern edge of the village. At least 80 families are now totally dependent on external support.

Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC