New Israeli halt of construction orders in Barta’a Ash Sharqiya village west of Jenin city

On March 8, 2011, the Israeli Occupation Army handed over eight residents from Barta’a As-Sharqiya village west of Jenin city military orders notifying them that their houses and animal sheds will be demolished under the pretext of lacking building permits due to their location in areas classified as ‘C’ according to Oslo II interim agreement of 1995 which fall under the full Israeli administrative and Security control. Owners of the threatened structures are listed in table 1:

 

Table 1: Owners of the threatened Structures in Barta’a Ash Sharqiya village
No.	Owner	Description of Structure
1	Farouq Mohammad Qubha	Two sheep barrackses
2	Mohammad Hasan Qasem Qubha	Sheep Barracks
3	‘Abed Hussein Qubha	Sheep Barracks
4	Shadi Mustapha Khalil Qubha	Under construction House
5	Muhammad Mustapha Khalil Qubha	Under construction House
6	Mohammad Tal’at Qubha	Under construction House
7	Jawad Ahmad Hussein	Under construction House
8	Muhammad Tewfik Mahmoud Qubha	Chicken Farm

 

It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time the residents of Barta’a Ash Sharqiya received demolition orders, where on the 18th of January 2010, the Israeli Occupation Army delivered 9 demolishing orders to Palestinian residents in the village. The nine orders that were set out by the Israeli Civil Administration and handed to residents of the village at the hands of the Israeli Occupation army came all under the pretext of lacking proper building authorization.

 

Later on February 10, 2010, the Israeli Occupation army also delivered 13 families in Barta’a Ash-Sharqiya village orders to demolish their houses under the same pretext.

 

According to the latest Israeli revised map of the Segregation Wall that was published on the Israeli Ministry of Defense website on April 30, 2007, Barta’a Ash- Sharqiya village along with 6 other Palestinian communities are trapped in an enclave and are totally isolated from the center of life in Jenin city. The enclave includes the communities of  Khirbet Al Muntar Al Gharbi,  Khirbet Ash- Sheikh Sae’d, Khirbit Abdullah Al Younis, Um Ar- Rihan, ‘Arab Al Hamdoun, Khirbit Al Malih and Barta’a Ash Sharqiya. The six communities are inhabited by 5,798 residents (PCBS 2010). Furthermore, Barta’a Ash Sharqiya enclave occupies a total land area of 27815 dunums (27.8 km²) and any movement from or to the aforementioned communities in the enclave is completely controlled by the Israeli Occupation Forces as only residents of the aforementioned communities are allowed access to and from the enclave. .

 

The Israeli Segregation Wall in Barta’a Ash Sharqiya enclave extends for more than 17 kilometers starting from ‘Anin village near the 1949 Green Line (Armistice Line), then it extends to the east towards ‘Arqa village cutting through its lands and continues southwards towards Ya’bad and Barta’a villages where it isolates a considerable area of lands of the two villages and then continues towards Zabda village in the south where it also isolates some of its lands within the enclave. The wall alsoannexes 4 Israeli settlements to Israel within its path, table 2 & Map 1:-  

Table 2: Israeli Settlements located within Barta’a Enclave
No.	Settlements inside Enclave	Population (2008-2009)	Area (Dunums)	Date of Establishment
1	Rehan	170	418	1977
2	Shakid	578	858	1981
3	Hinnanit	811	769	1981
4	Tel Menashe	452	275	1994
Total	2011	2320	2320	****
Source: ARIJ Data base 2010

 

 

 

Barta’a Ash-Sharkeyya is located 30 km away to the west of the city of Jenin. It is trapped within an enclave where the Israeli Segregation Wall surrounds the village from its four directions. Khirbit Barta’a, Khirbit Abdullah al Younis located to its east and Khirbet al Mintar to its south. The village is inhabited by 4,503 residents (PCPS 2010).

 

The demolition of the Palestinian houses by the Israeli Occupation is a grave violation of International law rules and conventions, where Israel should be held accountable for its acts in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and should comply with the international legitimacy, laws treaties and United Nations’ Resolutions.