Halt of work orders on 10 facilities east Yatta / Hebron governorate

• Violation: Halt of work orders.
• Date: February 24^th 2020.
• Location: Ad-Duqaiqa – Yatta town / Hebron governorate.
• Perpetrators: The Israeli occupation civil administration.
• Victims: People of Ad-Duqaiqa village.

Description:

Monday, February 24^th 2020, the Israeli occupation authorities issued halt of work orders on houses, facilities and cisterns , owned by citizens from Ad-Duqaiqa village –east Yatta , on the pretext of building in C area without licenses.

Ad-Duqaiqa village council head “Odeh An-Najadeh” told LRC:

“A vehicle related to the building and organization department in the civil administration accompanied by an army patrol raided the village before noon in Monday , the building officer in the civil administration wrote a military order and put them on the targeted structure , then withdrew,”

Noteworthy, the occupation authorities distributed 10 halt of work notices , and ordered the immediate stoppage of work on the targeted structures under pretext of building without licenses, they also set March 18^th as the date of the subcommittee session – high organization council , in “Beit El” military court to decide the fate of the structure.

According to the military order the owners may apply for licenses, but there is no guarantee that the licenses will be approved.

In fact, the Israeli occupation authorities never approve licenses for Palestinians, the halt of work orders are the final step before issuing “A Final Demolition Order”, giving the owner only (3-7) days to implement the demolition , in case the owner breached the deadline , the occupation authorities implement the operation and makes the owner pay for the costs.

The occupation authorities claim that they refer to “Cities , villages and buildings Law number 79 of 1966” , which is the Jordanian Law that was valid in West Bank in 1967 , but the occupation adjusted the law , and issued a military order that maks a clear violation of international conventions and agreements related to the protection of civilians under occupation.

The following table shows more information about the targeted facilities:

Noteworthy, Ad-Duqaiqa village is to the south east of Yatta within Msafer Yatta area , it has a total population of 350 people that work in agriculture and cattle breeding , the village is provided with electricity through 23 solar panels , the Khirbet consists of a primary stage school , and a mosque that the occupation authorities notified with a halt of work order , there is also a basic clinic that operates from a tent and provides medical services for people of the area.

After the latest update, now we can say that every single structure in the village of Ad-Duqaiqa is notified with demolition, the occupation’s intention is to empty the area for the fever of colonial expansion.

Prepared by

 The Land Research Center
LRC