Israeli Occupation Forces Demolish Structures and a Classroom in Khirbet Dqaiqa – South of Yatta, Hebron Governorate.

Violation: The demolition of 14 Palestinian-owned structures leaving 35 homeless including 19 children.

Date: January 12^th, 2011.

Affected: 6 Bedouin families

Details:

Israeli occupation forces demolished on the 12^th of January, 2011, a number of housing and agricultural structures in Khirbet Dqaiqa in the southern parts of the town of Yatta in Hebron Governorate. Moreover, the occupation forces have also demolished a classroom in the Khirbet’s only school under the pretext that it was built ‘without a permit’.

The residents of the Khirbet recalled that 2 Israeli bulldozers accompanied by 30 military jeeps placed Dqaiqa under siege while carrying out the demolitions. They have also indicated that occupation forces did not allow the residents to remove their belongings before the actual demolition. Only a few items were allowed to be spared. All told, 14 structures (including tents and block rooms and animal pens) were destroyed. These structures make up about half of the structures in the khirbet in which about 300 Palestinian Bedouins live.

Currently, the residents of the khirbet are living in tough humanitarian conditions; Mr. Mohammad Al Ka’abneh (one of the victims of the demolition) indicated that he is currently living in his relatives’ tents as to safeguard him and his family from the desert’s cold weather. He has, also, pointed out that he is having a hard time providing shelter for his animals after their shelters were demolished. His situation is duplicated with all those who had their shelters demolished by the occupation forces.

The following table lists the names of the affected Palestinians as well as the type of their demolished structures and other related information:

Name	No. of Structures	Family members	No. of Children	Type of Structure	Pic. Before Demolition	Pic. After Demolition
Ibrahim Jamil Najada	3	4	2	Two rooms + kitchen		2
Jamil Suleiman Najada	3	12	8	Tent + brux + animal pen		4
Khaled Jamil Najada	2	4	2	Room + tent		6
Adnan Mohammad Ka’abneh	3	7	5	2 rooms + tent	7 + 8	9+10
Hussein Mohammad Ka’abneh	1	5	1	Room		12
Yousef Mohammad Ka’abneh	1	3	1	Tent	N.A	13
TOTAL	13	35	19

Source: Land Research Center – Field Unit.

Even the school was not spared the demolition as one classroom (area = 40 m²) was destroyed while two teachers were arrested while trying to defend their school against occupation forces.