The Violation:
On the 14th of July, 2009, Israeli occupation forces distributed 6 Stop Work orders against residential structures in the village of Hijja located east of the Governorate of Qalqilia. The pretext used to issue the said orders was building without getting the necessary permits from occupation authorities as the area in which the structures are located in is classified as Area C.The Orders gave the owners of the houses until the 6th of August, 2009 to file for a building permit in Beit El.
Photo 1: One of the Stop Work orders distributed in Hijja
The following table lists the relevant information about the owners of the threatened houses:
|
Name of House Owner
|
Area in m2
|
Family Members
|
No. of Children
|
House Status
|
|
Raji Samir Raji Al Hajj
|
55
|
4
|
2
|
Inhabited
|
|
Mohammad Ahmad Diab
|
150
|
5
|
3
|
 Under construction.
|
|
Salama Samir Oudeh
|
80
|
7
|
5
|
Under construction.
|
|
Samer Majed Mahmoud Hamad
|
170
|
8
|
5
|
 Under construction. |
|
Basem Mahmoud Ahmad Batta
|
120
|
6
|
4
|
Under construction.
|
|
Imran Yousef Abdel Qader
|
50
|
7
|
5
|
Under construction.
|
|
TOTAL
|
625
|
37
|
24
|
|
Source: Hijja Village Council – July 2009.
The recent Orders have increased the number of the threatened houses in the village to 38 since the year 2004 while 10 other structures were already demolished. That is in addition to a number of agricultural structures that were taken apart by its owners since the beginning of the recent Intifada in the year 2000.
Previous Violations:
The residents of the village of Hijja living in Area C have been receiving stop work orders one after the other since the year 2004. A number of the threatened house lay a mere 4 meters away from the Master Plan of the village. This fact has created a real crisis in the village which lacks the most basic services (such as water network) due to the Israeli policies aiming to evict Palestinians out of their lands.
In addition, Israeli occupation forces demolished on the 12th of July, 2007 an agricultural structure owned by Hajja Safiya Basalat from the village. The structure was given a demolition order in June 2006 under the pretext of being built in Area C without a permit.
Hijja Village:
The village of Hijja is located east of the city of Qalqilia and north of the village of Al Fundoq. Its area totals 11,718 dunums of which 337 constitute its built-up area. Its population is estimated to be 2148 most of whom depend on agriculture especially olives. Other sources of income include working in the public sector in the Palestinian Authority or as day laborers inside Israel. (Source: GIS Unit – LRC).
The village is suffering from the small area allocated for building as it is only allowed within the boundaries of the 882-dunum Master Plan which was issued in 1994. According to the residents of the village, the allocated area does not accommodate the natural growth of the population of the village. This fact has led the younger generation either to build vertically atop old buildings in the village or to build in areas classified as Area C.
::::::::::
[1] The Oslo Accords (II) signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel in 1995 placed the lands in the West Bank and Gaza into three categories; A, B and C. Around 60% of West Bank lands are Area C while the remaining 40% are classified as Areas A and B.
[2] Hijja Village Council
[3] Hijja Village Council
Prepared by:
The Land Research Center
LRC
The Land Research Center
LRC
