Stop Palestinian Building in the Village of Khallet Al Mayya

On the 15^th of March, 2009, Israeli occupation forces distributed Stop Work orders against 9 Palestinian properties in the village of Khallet Al Mayya located east of the town of Yatta in Hebron Governorate. The Orders were issued under the pretext that the structures were built without the proper permits.

 

House owners indicated that Israeli occupation soldiers accompanied officers from the so-called ‘Civil Administration’ who submitted the orders and took pictures of the targeted houses. According to the orders, the date of the 26^th of March was set for the owners to attend to a court hearing in Bet El to file an appeal against these orders andor get the necessary permits from the ‘Civil Administration.’

  

 

 

The 1,500 residents of Khallet Al Mayya have been suffering from Israeli control since the middle 1990s. Currently, the By-Pass Road 60 has been established on lands of the village. In addition, there is an Israeli observation tower built atop a hill overlooking the village. During the second Intifada years the village suffered (and still does) from the suffocation it witnesses on daily basis due to a large number of closures (earthmounds, earth walls and road blocks) placed and imposed upon them by the occupation forces for the benefit of the colonists living in the nearby colonies of Karmel, Ma’on and Susiya among others.

 

 

 

The mounting closures forced Khallet Al Mayya residents to use sandy and rugged roads to reach the town of Yatta and other nearby villages such as Ar Rifa’eiya and Al Deirat.

 

The village of Khallet Al Mayya depends on the Israeli electricity company’s line which passes parallel to the By-Pass Road. The electricity was provided after the residents have paid the needed subscription fees, expensive as they are. Yet, despite this fact Israeli occupation forces keep on making life difficult for the residents as each time a house owner places an electrical pole to supply his house with electricity they would prevent him from doing so using the pretext that ‘it is placed in the wrong place.’ !!! As such, the resident finds himself obliged to place the poles in location dictated by the occupation forces at a great additional expense for him. On the other hand, the same forces are aiding in placing high voltage electrical network to serve the nearby colonies and prevent any type of Palestinian building 40 meters away from the electrical towers placed on Palestinian lands. A stark difference in the treatment of the Israeli and the Palestinian.         

 

Palestinian farmers and herders of Khallet Al Mayya had also their share of agony due to Israeli occupation practices. For example, farmers cannot plant or let their sheep graze in their lands located near the military observation tower. They are not even allowed to plow it. Its been recorded on a number of occasions that Israeli occupation forces chase off landowners from these lands and prevent their access to it.

The Palestinians in Al Khallet are even prevented from developing a home gardens as was the case with Mr. Mohammad Al Umoor. He was working on rehabilitating a 0.5 dunums piece of lands next to his house to use as a home garden when Israeli soldiers showed up and confiscated the digger working in the site. Rather than having a home garden, Al Ummor planted few trees in order to safeguard the land.

 

 

The following table lists the targeted structures and their relevant information:

Name of Owner	No. Family Members	Area in m2	Year of Establishment	Type of Building	Status	Picture No.
Ahmad Musa Khalil Makhamra	6	300	2008	House	Under construction
Mohammad Nofal Houshiya	6	300	2004	House	Inhabited
Mohammad Shaher Raba’ei	4	150	2006	House	Inhabited
Khalil Shihda Al Raba’ei	6	150	2007	House	Under construction
Ziad Aayed Najjajra	6	150	2007	House	Ready to be inhabited
Imad Aayed Najjajra	10	16	2008	Grocery shop	Used
Ismaeil Jibreel Al Najjar	12	200	2007	Warehouses	Used
Mahmoud Mohammad Al Umoor	18	220	2008	House	Under construction
Faris Mahmoud Al Umoor	6	146	2008	House	Under construction
TOTAL	74	1632

 

The Israeli violations and practices against the village of Khallet Al Mayya is part of a large pressure scheme against the town of Yatta. Recently, a new colonial road has been established surrounding the colony of Karmel at the expense of Palestinian owners from the town of Yatta. The planned road is designed to annex about 1000 dunums into the colony of Karmel.