Violation: demolition of a water cistern and a shack.
Location: Al Thagra area in al Khader – Bethlehem.
Date: July 19, 2012.
Perpetrators: the Israeli Occupation Army.
Victims: Ali Jaber and his 16-member family and Mohammad Salah.
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Details:
On July 19, 2012, Israeli troops accompanied by two dozers broke into Al Thagra area in al Khader before embarking on the demolition of a water cistern and a shack that were used for agricultural purposes. The cistern was property of Ali Jaber; its total volume was 180 m3 and was used to supply a 16-dunum-field with water. The field was planted with 850 grape trees, 350 olive trees, and over 4000 seeds of seasonal crops (squash, tomatoes, etc.). The Israeli troops had a demolition order with them, however, Islam, one of the owner sons rejected the order and stood in the face of the raging dozers. There was no way he can stop the dozers so in the end he agreed with the soldiers that he demolishes the cistern himself in an attempt to protect the plants and trees from the dozers.
The soldiers gave him two hours to do so but they were impatient and eventually the dozers broke into the land and demolished the cistern leaving nothing but destruction in their path.
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Picture 1-3: demolition of the cistern
Later, the dozers moved to Um al Fahm area before and demolished a 25-m2-shack. The owner received a demolition order a year ago but a court decision confirmed the order leaving the owner helpless despite his efforts.
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Picture 4-5: knocked down shack
Al Khader:
Al Khader is located 5 km to the west of Bethlehem city; it is connected by a road to the main road, Jerusalem – Hebron road which connects it to the surrounding cities. It is administered by a local council and is named after Saint George (Al Khader in Arabic). The village holds within a football stadium, a donation of the Portuguese Government; the work in the stadium started in 2000 through Bethlehem 2000 project, however, the construction stopped for a long time because of the second Intifada (uprising) events considering the location of the stadium near by-pass road (60). It was opened in 2007.
Area and Location:
Al Khader is 20100 dunums in area including 800 dunums of built-up area.
Previous violations:
The Israelis conquered 218 dunums of the village in 1948 and are trying to capture the rest of Al Khader fertile lands using the segregation wall. The Israeli authorities confiscated huge parts of Al Khader lands to construct Ezyon colony in 1967(4500 dunums in area inhabited by 461 colonists) and Daniel in 1983 (200 dunums in area).
