NINETEEN HOMES DESTROYED IN THE WEST BANK
JAHALIN BEDOUIN AGAIN UNDER SIEGE
17 July 1997
After the Israeli military authorities declared an unofficial moratorium on house demolition in an effort to get the stalled negotiations back on track, bulldozers arrived this morning in the village of Bir Naballa in the West Bank and destroyed nineteen homes. Three bulldozers, 15 military jeeps and over 60 soldiers destroyed four stone buildings and 15 wooden homes which housed 47 people. These homes, some of which date back 30 years, all lie near the proposed trajectory of the settler by-pass road number 45.The stone buildings were owned by Ibrahim Odeh Awidat al Jahalin, 70 years old, and his sons Mohammed, 35, Yussef, 25, and Ahmad, 20. Twenty-seven people lived in these homes, mostly children between the age of 1-12 years. This family also owned eight of the wooden homes, which also housed family members. The soldiers did not permit them to remove their belongings before destroying the homes, and prevented the neighbors from assisting the families.
This land is owned by the Waqf (the Islamic religious trust). The al Jahalin family had been asked to remain on the land as caretakers.
The remaining seven wooden homes which were also destroyed belonged to the brothers Ahmed and Mohammed Hussein al Jahalin and their families, and housed a total of 20 people.
This Israeli policy of house demolition removes entire neighborhoods and serves to ethnically cleanse areas of the West Bank near Jewish installations of a Palestinian presence. As the negotiations remain in crisis after the beginning of Israeli construction on a new Jewish settlement on the outskirts of Jerusalem, such a coordinated policy allows the Israeli government to negotiate, later, over “empty” lands in the West Bank and to facilitate military control over the area. As of March 31, according to Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai, some 860 homes have been targeted for demolition and, according to Israeli Mayor Yehud Olmert, in East Jerusalem 2600 buildings are vulnerable to destruction.
Contact the following officials to demand an immediate halt to all house demolitions, and for the international community, especially the United States, to take appropriate actions to sanction Israel for this brutal policy: Israeli Prime Minister (972) (2) 566 4838, Minister of Foreign Affairs David Levy (972) (2) 530 3506, Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai (972) (3) 691 6940. Electronic mail to: Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu: pm@pmo.gov.il, the Office of the Prime Minister: feedback@pmo.gov.il, the Israeli Government Press Office: gpo@pmo.gov.il, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: ask@israel-info.gov.il.
LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment is a non-governmental organization, dedicated to preserving human rights through legal advocacy. LAW is also an affiliate member of the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights.