Israel to Evacuate tens of Palestinian families in the Jordan valley for military drillings

Under the pretext of Military drilling, the Israeli Civil Administration affiliated to the so-called “Israeli ministry of Defense” is again targeting tens of Bedouin families in a number of Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley with evacuation orders. The delivered evacuation orders were issued on the 26th of May 2016, holding Order Info: “IDF Order Regarding Security Regulations (Judea and Samaria) (No. 378), 5730-1970” and stating that families are due to evacuate their primitive homes during the coming weeks, for three consecutive days, starting on the 30th of May till the first of June 2016 under the pretext of carrying out military drillings in areas classified by Israel as “Firing Zones 901 and 903”. The targeted Palestinian communities are Kherbit Ar Ras AL Ahmar and Humsa Al Fouqa in Tubas Governorate.

Evacuation Orders in Kherbit Ar Ras Al Ahmar in Tubas Governorate

In Kherbit Ar Ras Al Ahmar east of Tammun Town in Tubas Governorate, 10 Palestinian families were notified of eviction under the pretext of carrying out military drilling in an area classified by Israel as “Firing Zone 901”. For more information about “Firing Zone” in the occupied State of Palestine, please refer to the following article:  

Ecstasy vs. Siesta: Israel Ecstatic vs. International Community Siesta & the Two-State Solution RIP.

Table 1 and Table 2 below give details of the evacuation days and hours in Kherbit Ar Ras Al Ahmar community along with names of affected families:-

Names of affected families are listed below:

Photo 1 & 2: Copies of some of the evacuation orders that were handed
to Palestinian families in Kherbit Ar Ras Al Ahmar

Note that to the southeast of Kherbit Ar Ras Al Ahmar, there is an Israeli military camp identified as “Camp Pelas”. The camp occupies a total land area of nearly 400 dunums and have always constituted a danger to the Palestinian communities nearby due to military drilling carried out there. See Map 1

Earlier evictions in Kherbit Ar Ras Al Ahmar

On the 20th of August, 2015 the Israeli civil administration served the community of Kherbit Ar Ras Al Ahmar “eviction orders” that included evacuating the area for a period of five days to conduct military drillings. The orders affected around 120 Palestinian living in the community. For more information, refer to the following case study: Eviction on the community of Al-Ras Al-Ahmar under the claim of “training military zones”

Earlier on the 23rd of March 2014, a number of Bedouin families in Khirbet Ar Ras al Ahmar in the Jordan Valley were ordered to evict their homes and belongingness for two days from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m so that the Israeli soldiers could carry out military trainings in the area. The orders targeted 16 families (around 160 family members) living in Khirbet Ras al Ahmar. For more information, refer to the following case study: Eviction orders for 35 Bedouin families in the Jordan Valley

Moreover, On March 1, 2013, the Israeli civil administration verbally notified 18 Palestinian families of to evacuate their residential tents and barracks on March 5, 2013 for at least 24 hours to make room for military drilling in the area. For more information click here: Eviction Orders for 18 Palestinian Families 

Again in October 2012, families of Kherbit Ar Ras Al Ahamr in Tubas Governorate were notified of eviction for 48 hours for military trainings. For more information, click here: The Israeli occupation gives 22 Bedouin evacuation warrants within 48 hours

Kherbit Ar Ras Al Ahmar: it is located 9 km to the southeast of Tubas city, in the northeastern part of West Bank. It is bordered by Al Hadidiya to the east, Khirbet Yarza to the north, Tammun to the west and Khirbet 'Atuf to the south. To its southeast lie three Israeli settlements Ro'i, Hemdat and Beqa'ot and two military bases, camp Asaf and Camp Pelas. The three settlements were established during the years 1972 and 1980. Population of Kherbit Ar Ras Al Ahmar does not exceed 150 people. 

Evacuation Orders in Kherbit Humsa Al Fouqa in Tubas Governorate

In Kherbit Humsa Al Fouqa in Tubas Governorate, six military orders were delivered to families in the community and stated the evacuation of their homes and belongingness under the pretext of carrying out military drilling in an area classified by Israel as “Firing Zone 903”. The delivered orders targeted another 11 Palestinian families. Table 3 & 4 give details of the evacuation days and hours in Kherbit Humsa Al Fouqa along with names of affected families:-

Names of affected Palestinian families in Kherbit Humsa Al Fouqa in Tubas Governorate are as follows:-  

Kherbit Humsa Al Fouqa is surrounded by a number of Israeli settlements, one to its to its west, Beqa’ot settlement, and another to its east, Roi’ settlement. The two settlements have always threatened the existence of the community. Note that this is not the first time that Kherbit Humsa A Fouqa was targeted, where in April 2014, the Israeli occupation bulldozers demolished the entire community including 4 residential structures, 12 animal pens and 12 agricultural barracks, leaving around 30 people homeless. See Map 1

Moreover, in May 2015, Israeli military drillings near Kherbit Humsa al Fouqa community have caused the burning of around 500 dunums of agricultural lands nearby. For more information, refer to the following case study: The occupation army set 500 dunums alight in Humsa al-Fouqa

Later in June 2015, employees of the Israeli civil Administrations raided Humsa Al-Fuqua and delivered eviction orders in the community targeting 13 families (around 60 members). The orders stated the eviction of homes and animal pens for two days (June 22 and June 25 of 2015) from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon time to carry out military drillings in the area. For more information, please refer to the following case study: Eviction notices for 13 families in Humsa hamlet due to military training

Families of the aforementioned communities (Humsa al Fouqa and Kherbit Ar Ras Al Ahmar) expressed their fear of the military drilling leftovers which actually jeopardize Palestinian citizens to danger and cause fatal deaths. Several incidents were reported in the ast few years where Palestinians were killed in the Jordan valley as a cause of military trainings' leftovers. :

• In February 2009, one Palestinian kid was killed and two others were seriously injured when a landmine, a leftover from Israeli military drilling in the Jordan Valley exploded near Tubas[1].
• Another incident was reported in November 2014 in Bardala village in the northern Tubas city[2] , when a Palestinian Shepherd, Ahmad Sawafta (41 years) , was killed by an explosive mine that was planted in the area during an Israeli military training in the area. 
• In June 2014, a 17-year-old boy was killed when a mine exploded in the northern Jordan Valley, in the area of al-Maleh[3].

Map 1: Threatened Palestinian Families in Kherbit Ar Ras Al Ahmar and Kherbit Humsa Al Fouqa in the Jordan Valley 

[1] Palestinian youth killed by Israeli military explosive
http://palsolidarity.org/2009/02/palestinian-youth-killed-by-israeli-military-explosive/

[2] A martyr due to the military training leftovers in al-Ghoor
http://www.old.poica.org/details.php?Article=7274

[3] Group: 17-year-old dies after stepping on Jordan Valley landmine
https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=706589

Prepared By  
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem
ARIJ