Israeli Continues the eradication of the Palestinian Existence in the Jordan Valley
” New wave of Demolitions in Al Jiftlik and Yezra communities in the the Jordan Valley “

In the early morning of November 24, 2010, and without prior notification, the Israeli Army bulldozers accompanied with the Israeli Occupation Forces staged into Abu Al ‘Ajaj area in Al Jiftlik village in the northern parts of the Jordan Valley and demolished three large structures one used for residential purposes and the other two sheds are animal barns under the pretext of lacking building permits. As a result, a Palestinian family of 16 members, including 12 children has lost shelter and became homeless. In addition 20 sheeps were killed during the demolition and five tons of fodders were also destroyed, because the Israeli forces prevented the families from salvaging the sheep and the fodder from the sheds.  The demolished structures are owned by:

An interview conducted by ARIJ field team with Mr. Issa ‘Adnan D’eis provided that the demolished sheds had received demolition orders in the year 2008, issued by the the so-called “Israeli Civil Administration” which is related to the Israeli Occupation Forces  under the pretext that they built the sheds without proper authorization. Mr. D’eis added that in recent weeks, they had been targeted by Israeli settlers living in the adjacent Illegal Israeli settlement of Massua’, who have made repeated and aggressive attempts to expand the settlement by taking over more land from the village of Al Jiftlik. See photos and map below:

  

  

Al Jiftlik,  is a Palestinian village located to the north of Jericho Governorate, in the central part of the Jordan Valley. It has a population of 5,535 (PCBS 2010) and sets on a total area of 81283 Dunums, of which, 194 dunums are designated for the builtup area. Esh Shuna village as well as the Illegal Israeli settlement of Peza’el borders it from the north, Fassayel and the Illegal Israeli settlements of Tomer, Gilgal, Netiv Hagdud and Niran from the south, Marj Al Ghazahl and Az Zubeidat villages as well as the bypass road # 90 from the east, and the Israeli bypass road number 508 from the west.

Furthermore and on November 25, 2010, the Israeli Occupation Forces invaded Khirbet Yezra (Yezra Hamlet) east of Tubas Governorate in the northern part of the Jordan Valley, declared the area as a “closed military area” and demolished 10 residential structures and a mosque under the pretext of lacking building permits. Mr. Mokhles Mesa’eed, the Mayor of Yezra indicated that the owners of the houses and the village council had received Israeli military demolition orders notifying them that their houses and the mosque will be demolished under the pretext of lacking proper authorization from the Israeli Civil Administration. He also provided that the residents of the village directly after receiving the demolition orders, they submitted a petition to the Israeli court and then to the Israeli High Court of Justice which started to study our case but we were surprised that the Israeli Occupation Forces did not wait for the decision of the Israeli Supreme Court, but came and demolished the mosque and the ten structures without prior notification. Mr. Mesa’eed added that the 120m² mosque was built before the year 1967 and the village council had built a small room in the mosque to be able to embrace the growing number of the village residents. It is worth mentioning that the demolished Palestinian structures are located in the lands classified as “C” areas, which according to Oslo II Interim Agreement of 1995, falls under the full Israeli security and administrative control and therfore, residents living in these areas must submit to get building permits from the Israeli ‘Civil Administration to build a house, where most often their request are denied.

 

The ever-ending Israeli demolition and evection campaign in the Jordan Valley is a crime rises to the level of “Ethnic Cleansing” which is in fact a chapter in a long Israeli plan aims to emptying the Valley from its Palestinian residents to the interest of the Israeli colonial and expansionist project in which the Jordan Valley from its north to its south are under full Israeli control, an Illegal settlements spreads randomly and on all its parts ,no Palestinian existence, and the rest of the area are already closed military area and military basis from the year 1967 until now and accordingly depriving the Palestinian people form any chance to build their independent sovereign contiguous future state.

 

The Israeli methodic house destruction campaign carried out by the Israeli Army flagrantly violates the International humanitarian law, and the International law rules and conventions and United Nations resolutions.

 

According to the Fourth Geneva Convention Israel is prohibited to demolish the Palestinian houses according to the Article 53 of the Convention which provides that: ‘Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or to other public authorities, or to social or cooperative organizations, is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.

 

Under the same convention, particularly Article 147 provides that:  of the Convention provides that ‘extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly’ is a grave breach of the Convention.

 

Moreover, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965) Article 5 provides that: ‘States’ Parties undertake to prohibit and eliminate racial discrimination in all of its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, color, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of the following rights: (e) in particular … (iii) the right to housing’.

 

In the year 2004 the United Nations Security Council called on Israel to stop demolition of Palestinian homes under Resolution No. 1544-(2004), the resolution states: ‘The Security Council called on Israel to respect its obligations under international humanitarian law, particularly the obligation not to undertake home demolitions contrary to that law’