- Violation: “Stop destroying Antiquities” notice for residential and agricultural structures.
- Location: ‘Azzun ‘Atma village / Qalqilya Governorate.
- Date: July 12th 2021.
- Perpetrators: the so-called Antiquities officer.
- Victims: Three families from the village.
Description:
Monday, July 12th 2021, the so called antiquities officer in the Israeli Civil Administration raided “An-Njara” area west ‘Azzun ‘Atma , where the occupation targeted a house, an old room and retaining walls with notices entitled “Stop destroying Antiquities” , as the occupation claims that the area is antiquities site number (517).
The Occupation Authorities (Antiquities department), ordered the demolition and removal of what is built immediately on the pretext of destroying antiquities, and threatened in case citizens did not remove the “threat” , a complaint to the occupation police will be filed against them.
The following table shows more information about the damages:
|
Affected citizen |
Number of family members |
females |
Military order number |
About the targeted structure |
Photo number |
|
Mohammed Salih |
6 |
2 |
 |
A house 190 m2 – one floor |
|
 |
Rehabilitating an old room 16 m2 built of stones and zinc |
 |
|||
|
Ibrahim Yunis |
8 |
5 |
 |
Baton floor (90 m2) |
 |
|
Ahmed Yunis |
6 |
3 |
|
Retaining walls around a 300 m2 |
 |
|
total |
20 |
10 |
|
|
|
Source: Field observation- Israeli Violations monitoring section- Land Research Center, July 2021
About Azzun Atma: [1]
Located 8km to Qalqiliya city with a total area of 9,472 dunums, of which 1,054 dunums are the village’s built-up area, Azzun is inhabited by 7,821 people (2007).
The occupation confiscated vast area from the village for the favor of colonization and the apartheid wall; the areas are detailed as follows:
- 276 dunums were confiscated for Maale Shamron colony that was established in 1980.
- 417 dunums were confiscated for the bypass road number 55
It should be marked that the vast majority of Azzun lands (6,927 dunums) is classified as area “C” according to Oslo accords; areas that are controlled by the Israeli occupation. The village has zero percentage of area “A” that is under the control of Palestinian Authority. As for other classifications, the village has 2,546 dunums classified as area “B”. (Geographical Information System- Land Research Center)
3 colonies are built on ‘Azzun lands and they are:
- Maale Shomron: Built in 1980, the colony has a total area of 1903 and a built-up area of 216 dunums. 549 colonists live in it (according to a 2004 census).
- Genot Shomron: Built in 1985, the colony’s built-up area is 484 dunums.
- Karni Shomron: Built in 1978, the colony’s built-up area is 1351 dunums. 6270 colonists live in it (according to a 2005 census).
‘Azzun ‘Atma under the Occupation:
‘Azzun ‘Atma is going under a colonial scheme, according to the village council resolution, Halt of Work notices in ‘Azzun ‘Atma mounted to 50 notices, and more than 14 facilities were demolished.
The village is surrounded by Sha’arie Tikva from its east and north borders, and the houses of the illegal colonies are almost neighbors of the village houses, only barbed wires divide the village houses from the colony. Noteworthy, the colony controls more than (1500) dunums of the village lands and surrounding villages like (Senirya, Masha, Beit Amin, Az-Zawiya) most of them are planted with olives, almonds and almonds.
To the west, ‘Azzun ‘Atma is surrounded by Oranit colony, which was established in 1983, and ate up about 2000 dunums. Consequently, ‘Azzun ‘Atma is surrounded by colonies from the southern, eastern and western borders since 1981.
[1] GIS-LRC
