Notices to stop work in houses and a paved road in the village of Abu Zanakh, south of Hebron

• Violation: notices of suspension of work.
• Violation date: 01/05/2022.
• Location: Abu Zanakh – Dura Town / Hebron Governorate.
• The perpetrator: the so-called civil administration of the occupation.
• Affected party: the people of Abu Zanakh village.

The violation details:

On May 1, 2022, the Israeli occupation authorities notified the halt of work and construction in two houses and a paved Street, under the pretext that they were built without licenses in the village of Abu Zanakh, Dura town, south of Hebron city.

The member of the village council, Mr. Jihad Abu Arqoub, told the LRC’s field researcher the following:

” A military unit from the occupation army  raided the area accompanied by the so-called building inspector in the Israeli “ civil administration” who wrote the notices and posted them on the walls of the target house. He, also,  posted a notice on a road sign next to the street leading to the village”.

The notices came under the title “Notice to stop work – construction”, and ordered the owners of the buildings to stop construction work on the pretext of un-licensing. It also set 5/11/2022 as a date for holding a session of the Inspection Subcommittee -the party that issued the notifications- at its headquarters in the Beit El settlement to discuss what it called “the demolition of the building or the restoration of the place to its previous state.”

The notices targeted the following buildings:

1- Work-stop notice No. 31939 targeting the house of Mr.  Muhammed Younis Abu Sharkh, which was built in 2020, and has an area of 70 m2. It is built of brick walls and roofed with insulated tin panels, in addition to an external bathroom with an area of 3 m2, used by a family consisted of  8 individuals, including 4 children amongst them 3 females.

Picture 1: Photo of the work- stop notice no. 31939 targeting
the house of citizen Muhammad Abu Sharkh

Picture 2: The threatened house

 2- Work- stop notice No. 31940 targeting a  60-square-meter house still under construction and  owned by Mr. Mohammed Abdel Hamid Al-Sharbati who heads a family of 4 people, including 2 children.

Picture 3: Photo of the work- stop notification No. 31940
targeting the home of citizen Al-Sharbati

Picture 4: The threatened house

3- Work-stop notice No. 31941 targeting a 1 km long paved road which connects the village of Abu Zanakh with the main Ad Dhaheriya – Hebron Street. It was paved in early 2022 as one of the projects funded by the Palestinian Ministry of Local Government, and is the only accessible entrance to the above mentioned village. The threatened rod serves more than 300 people, and hundreds of dunums of cultivated land located in both sides of this road. 

Picture  5: Photo of the work-stop notice No. 31941 targeting Abu Zanakh Road

Photos 6-8: The threatened street in Abu Zanakh

The village of Abu Zanakh is located to the southeast of the town of Dura, and its population is about 300 people who work in agriculture and government jobs.