Demolition of three agricultural rooms in the town of Kafr ad-Dik / Salfit Governorate

• Violation: demolishing three agricultural rooms.
• Location: Kafr ad-Dik, west of Salfit.
• Date of violation: 05/22/2022.
• The aggressor: the so-called building inspector of the Israeli Civil Administration.
• The affected party: Three farming families in the town.
• Details of the violation:

On Sunday afternoon (22/5/2022AD), the “Al-Wajh al-Shami” area, north of the town of Kafr al-Dik, witnessed a new attack by the so-called construction inspector of the Israeli Civil Administration, who in turn stormed the area accompanied by a large number of occupation soldiers, who then closed the area and prevented farmers from being there in the land, in order to facilitate the demolition process carried out by the occupation through an Israeli civilian bulldozer. Three agricultural rooms and a rainwater collection well were directly targeted, under the pretext of building without a permit, according to the occupation’s claim.

It is noteworthy that the damaged facilities were previously notified three years ago to stop construction by the so-called construction inspector of the occupation, and despite the preparation of official papers and documents, the occupation refused all permit requests. The lawyer for the three farmers was informed on (15/5/2022) of the occupation’s decision to completely demolish those rooms.

Farmer Nafez Ayoub told the Land Research Center researcher the following:

“Eight years ago, I built an agricultural room with the aim of establishing my presence on the land, and also to facilitate my work in serving the land, but we were not spared the harassment of the settlers who sabotaged the agricultural rooms we own and stole agricultural equipment more than once, so that our presence there became fraught with various risks in settlers’ attacks continued to increase”.

It is noteworthy that the Israeli occupation had earlier notified a number of agricultural chambers in different areas of the town of Kafr ad-Dik, most of which were concentrated in the western region and the northern region of the town, as these areas are considered the only outlet for the population in light of the urban expansion and the shrinking of agricultural lands in the town.

This is in addition to a group of agricultural rooms that were damaged by the settlers themselves, as a large number of them were vandalized during the past two months, as these agricultural rooms were built as stores for agricultural tools, and are also used to store farmers’ tools while cultivating their lands in that area It was self-financed by the farmers themselves.

About the town of Kafr ad-Dik[1]:

The town of Kafr ad-Dik is located 15 km to the west of the city of Salfit. It is bordered to the north by Bidya, to the west by the villages of Rafat, Deir Ballut, to the east by the villages of Burqin and Sarta, and to the south by the villages of Bani Zaid. Its population reached 5551 people until 2017, and its total area is 15529 dunums, of which 791 dunums are the building surface of the village.

The occupation confiscated an area of 2477 dunums of its lands, as follows:

1. The colonies/settlements looted 1225 dunums of village lands, which are:

2. The bypass roads plundered 362 dunums.
3. The racist wall looted 890 dunums, and about 8842 dunums will be isolated behind it, and its length on the village lands is 8905 meters.

According to the Oslo agreement, the lands of Kafr ad-Dik are classified as B, which constitutes 15% of the area of the village, while areas C, is under the full control of the Israeli occupation, which constitute 85%.

 Areas classified as “B” are 2,252 dunums.

Areas classified as “C” are 13,277 dunums.

[1] Source: GIS Unit – Land Research Center.