Violation: the Israeli Occupation Army demolished 3 structures in Humsa.
Date: January 12, 2012.
Perpetrators: the Israeli Occupation Army.
Victims: families of Humsa.
Details:
The Jordan Valley area is facing continuous discriminative acts perpetrated by the Israeli Occupation Authorities. Humsa has been the most recent target. On January 12, 2012, Israeli troops accompanied by a dozer broke into the dwelling and commenced a demolition campaign that hit a number of barns and sheds without even giving the chance for the owners to clear the contents of the structures which doubled the losses.
Picture 1-2: Suleiman Bsharat structures
Picture 3-4: Nabil Bsharat structures
Table 1: damages:
Victim
|
Family members
|
Children
|
cattle
|
Damages
|
remarks
|
Shed
|
others
|
Suleiman Bsharat
|
7
|
2
|
115
|
2
|
Fodder storage
|
3 previous notifications
|
Nabil Bsharat
|
3
|
1
|
80
|
1
|
barn
|
Previously notified
|
|
10
|
3
|
195
|
3
|
|
|
source: field work – Monitoring Israeli Violations of Human Rights Unit – LRC
Suleiman Bsharat (75) said that the Israelis are targeting the existence of Palestinians in the Jordan Valley. He was notified 3 times before the demolition and despite changing his residency he was still targeted. Humsa is located 28 km to the south east of Tubas; the residents come from Al hadidiyya, 1.5 km to the east, a dwelling that was abruptly evicted by the Israelis. Since residing in Humsa in 2007, the Israeli Army and colonists attacks are unstoppable.
Humsa is surrounded by the following colonies:
1. Pigut: it was established in 1972 to reach a total area of 675 dunums; it is inhabited by 156 colonists.
2. Ro’i: it was established in 1976 to reach a total area of 264 dunums; it is inhabited by 117 colonists.
In addition, the locals have been harassed by the Mikrot (the Israeli Water Company) officers who claim that the farmers and herders action threatens the environment. It must be noted that in July, 2007, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the removal of Humsa dwelling based on a paper presented by the Israeli Occupation Army saying that ‘Palestinians have been building prior to acquiring legal permits from the Army in an area classified ‘C’ according to Oslo’.
In addition, the Israeli Army claimed that ‘Palestinian farmers and herders often attack ‘settlers’ by impeding them with stones and some of them have fire arms’.
However, residents denied any claims of owning fir arms. Besides, they said that their houses are primitive and some of them are just tents; these houses can be dismantled and moved any time. It must be noted that the Israeli Supreme Court suggested an ‘alternative’ dwelling for the people of Humsa (127 people). They suggested ‘Atouf, 5 km to the east of Tamoun which was rejected. ‘Atouf is a bare land which lacks water sources.