A force from the occupation army and a staff from the Civil Administration accompanied by two dozers raided at dawn of January 21, 2016 the Bedouin community of Jabal Al-Baba, east Al-Eizariya town and embarked on demolishing six residences founded there.
It should be marked that the attacked Bedouin community is taken care of by EU, which provides residents with metal slaps caravans to be shelters for their families. Residents of the area thought that the structures of EU were immune from demolition by the occupation until they saw the opposite.
One of the affected citizens, Ghassan Jahalin, told Land Research Center the following:
"The occupation forces raided the area at dawn and stormed our residences while we were asleep. We were forcibly evicted out of our residences and some of us were beaten up at time demolition took place"
The demolition operation reached out six caravans (metal slaps) belonging to the following people :
- Ali Abu Kteifeh : he owns a residence that is built by metal slaps and wood for over 30 years. The structure is of 100m2 in area. Also the citizen got his 50m2 caravan demolished; the caravan was donated by EU and ACF to be home for the citizen's four member family including 2 children.
- Suliman Jahalin: he owns a residential barrack (402) that is home for the citizen's seven member family including 5 children. The structure is gifted by EU .
- Nayef Jahalin: he owns a metal slaps structure (30m2) that is home for the citizen's nine member family including 7 children.
- Imteira Jahalin: she owns a metal slaps structures (20m2) that is home for the citizen and her sister
- Talib Jahalin: he owns a metal slaps structures (20m2) that is home for the citizen and his wife
The representative of Jabal Al-Baba community, Atallah Mazar'a, told Land Research Center that the occupation raided the area and carried out the demolition operation without previous warning or notice. "We didn’t expect the demolition because the court halted the order a year ago", said Atallah.
The occupation justifies demolitions on the usual claim of "unlicensed construction". The real intent behind such measure is to empty the area of east Jerusalem from Bedouins to implement the so-called plan of E1, which aims at expanding Maale Adummim colony and linking it to the colonies in East Jerusalem namely ( Ramat Ashkol, Givat Shabira, Givat Amir and Givat Zeev). Noteworthy, the area that separates between the aforementioned colonies is of 12,000 dunums in area that are relative to Palestinian towns of Abu Dis, Al-Eizariya and Al-Isawiya .
The occupation is reported to build thousands of residential units in Maale Adummim in addition to touristic centers, hotels, universities, road networks and a new police station instead of the one located in Jerusalem.
About Jabal Al-Baba:
The community is inhabited by 56 families (300 members) all hailing from the area of Beir Al-Saba'. Those Bedouins were displaced in the aftermath of 1948 war.
Jabal Al-Baba is edged by Al-Eizariya town from the west, Al- Za'ayyem town from the north, Maale Adummim colony from east and Wad Al-Jimal community from the south.
The community has a total built-up of 27 dunums. Primary and secondary school students of the community study in Al-Eizariya schools that are 2km far in distance; they go to schools on feet.
Most roads of the community are agricultural and unpaved.
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
