Israel razes Palestinian homes in West Bank firing zone

[azurnoir]

“The buildings being demolished in Firing Zone 918 were illegally constructed,” COGAT said in a statement. “During the last two years, the [Defense Ministry] Civil Administration has been conducting a dialogue process with the population in order the legalize the structures. When the building owners showed no willingness to get the situation in order and illegal construction did not stop, measures were taken in accordance with the law.”

Firing Zone 918 encompasses approximately 115 square miles and was declared a restricted military zone in the 1970s.

The NGO B’tselem, which has led a campaign for the Palestinian residents of the area, said that the Civil Administration had begun bulldozing houses in the village of Khirbat Jenba “following the termination of the arbitration process between the residents and the state.”

Approximately 40 buildings have been marked for demolition in the village and neighboring hamlet Khirbat el-Halawa, the group said in a statement.

Veterans group Breaking the Silence, which says it exposes IDF wrongdoing in the territories, called the move the “largest demolition order” in over a decade.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-razes-palestinian-homes-in-west-bank-firing-zone/

[Little Tich]

1. Why can't the IDF have a shooting range in Israel instead?

This is just another example of what Apartheid looks like and why sane people are critical of the occupation.

[azurnoir]

2. why not in Israel but that would accomplish nothing

[Little Tich]

3. TOI: High Court halts razing of Palestinian homes in West Bank firing zone

Source: Times of Israel

Injuction ordered after Defense Ministry began demolition Tuesday morning; human rights group behind petition says buildings funded by EU

Israel’s High Court ordered army bulldozers to temporarily halt the demolition of Palestinian homes in a military firing zone after a number of homes were razed Tuesday morning.

Israeli forces began destroying dozens of structures Tuesday morning in two Palestinian villages south of Hebron, after the buildings were declared illegal by the body that oversees civilian Israeli activities in the territories.

The High Court ordered a stop to the demolitions until at least February 9 and required the state to respond by that date.

Before the court’s stay was ordered, soldiers destroyed 24 structures in and around the village of Khirbet Jenbah south of Hebron, the Association of Civil Rights in Israel said.

Read more: http://www.timesofisrael.com/high-court-halts-razing-of-palestinian-homes-in-west-bank-firing-zone/

[Israeli]

4. Israel Demolishes 23 Homes in Hebron Area to Make Way for IDF Training Zones

Latest development in multiyear battle leaves 60 children, 18 adults without dwellings.

Amira Hass Feb 03, 2016

The Civil Administration in the West Bank on Tuesday demolished 23 homes and three outhouses in the southern Hebron hills villages of Jinba and Halawa. According to Israeli activists who reached Jinba by midday, shortly after the demolitions, 78 people had been living in the newly-built homes, including 60 children.

These are two of the 12 villages in the area that have been waging a legal battle for 17 years in an attempt to prevent their evacuation and demolition so they can be used as army training areas. The European Union has been closely following the villagers’ campaign, and has repeatedly stated it would view their evacuation as a coerced uprooting of a protected population, a contravention of international law.

On Monday morning, the State Prosecution and lawyers for the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), as well as the villagers’ attorney Shlomo Lecker, announced that a bridging process started in October 2013 had failed. To the shocked surprise of residents and lawyers, within hours of informing the High Court of Justice of this development, Civil Administration officials arrived in these two villages and marked 40 dwellings for demolition. Less than 24 hours later they returned, accompanied by the army, and started destroying these structures. They also temporarily blocked a road leading to Jinba and confiscated vehicles and five solar panels.

The bridging procedure, mediated by law professor Yitzhak Zamir, was suggested by the High Court of Justice. The two sides were sworn to secrecy during this process. However, the Society of St. Yves learned that during the procedure the army demanded that residents leave their homes for a few days each month so that military exercises could be held in the area. The residents objected, leading to the termination of the bridging process.

Palestinian children search for toys in the remains of their home after it was demolished by Israeli bulldozers, Musafir Jenbah, south of the West Bank town of Hebron on February 2, 2016.AFP

Prior to the process, the state’s position was that residents of eight villages must move to the village of Yatta permanently, allowing them to cultivate their land and graze their sheep in the area at times when the army was not conducting exercises there, namely on weekends and Jewish holidays. Two more periods for cultivation and grazing would also be allowed during the year. Permanent residence in the villages would not be permitted. The residents of four other smaller villages were permitted to remain in the area, according to the state’s position in 2012.

The demolition was interrupted and did not extend to all 40 structures that were slated for demolition after the Society of St. Yves – the Catholic Center for Human Rights – filed a petition to halt the demolitions with the High Court of Justice on Tuesday morning. The court issued a temporary injunction until the state’s reply is received in seven days.

All the structures demolished on Tuesday were newly constructed dwellings, built in 2014 while the bridging process was in progress. They were made of concrete bricks, with corrugated tin roofs. Israel has not developed any construction plans for these villages, which have been there since the 19th century. Thus, any construction there is deemed illegal. However, natural growth and overcrowding have compelled residents to build even without permits.

Fifteen of the demolished structures were in Jinba and the rest in Halawa. Many were built with financing provided by European and other foreign agencies. All 12 villages in the area developed naturally from settlements of cave-dwellers, who had originally inhabited the numerous caves in the area. These outlying areas of the adjacent town of Yatta started developing by the mid-19th century. In some of these villages, stone houses were already built before 1967. The residents always maintained social, family and economic ties with Yatta.

The area around these villages was already declared a closed military zone back in the late 1970s. Only permanent residents were allowed to dwell there. In August and September 1999 most of the villagers received evacuation orders, based on the claim that they were “illegally residing within a live-fire zone.” The authorities informed them that they were deemed “intruders into a fire range.” On November 16, 1999 the army forcibly removed 700 residents, destroying houses and wells, as well as confiscating property. The residents were left without homes or any means of making a living.

Attorney Roni Pelli from ACRI expressed her regret that “the day after the end of the bridging process the army rushed to demolish so many structures, leaving dozens of children, women and men without a roof over their heads in the coldest month of the year.” A defense official told Haaretz that the structures that were demolished and the solar panels that were confiscated “were erected without permits within the firing zone.” He added that “during the bridging process conducted by the Civil Administration to settle the matter of these structures, residents were unwilling to reach a settlement, while continuing with their illegal construction. This led to enforcement of the law.”

Amira Hass
Haaretz Correspondent

Source: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.701059

[Israeli]

5. IDF destroys 20 Palestinian structures in West Bank 'firing zone'

The army exploits a break-down in a court-ordered mediation to demolish buildings in ‘Firing Zone 918.’ Israel has been trying to evict impoverished Palestinian communities from their lands for over 15 years — in order to save a few bucks on military trainings.


Israeli soldiers guard a bulldozer demolishing Palestinian structures in Khirbet Jenbah, which is part of what the army calls ‘Firing Zone 918,’ February 2, 2016. (Nasser Nawaj’ah/B’Tselem)

Israeli military forces demolished over 20 structures in the Palestinian villages of Khirbet Jenbah and Hawala Tuesday morning. In the early afternoon, Israel’s Supreme Court issued an interim injunction until a hearing can be held next week.

Some 1,000 Palestinians in eight villages live in what the Israeli army has declared ‘Firing Zone 918? in the South Hebron Hills. Some 400 people, a large number of whom are children, live in the two villages targeted on Tuesday.

For over 15 years, the state has sought to evict the traditionally cave-dwelling Palestinian families from their homes and grazing lands inside the designated area. Jewish settlements within Firing Zone 918, however, have not been served with eviction orders.


Palestinian children play in the rubble left after the Israeli military demolished 24 Palestinian structures in Khirbet Jenbah, which is part of what the army calls ‘Firing Zone 918,’ February 2, 2016. (Nasser Nawaj’ah/B’Tselem)

More than two years ago the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the army to enter into mediation with the Palestinian residents of Firing Zone 918. The mediation recently broke down.

The army, it appears, was attempting to take advantage of the period between the breakdown and the matter returning to court, in order to demolish the homes.

The mediation was not the first attempt to resolve the issue of Firing Zone 918 out of court. In 2002, villagers and the state entered a previous round of mediation, in which the army sought to relocate the Palestinian residents to a smaller, nearby area. Residents refused, however, and in 2005 the process ended without any result.

In the 2013 High Court hearing, the state argued that Firing Zone 918 is of military necessity because it reduces logistical costs of training exercises due to its proximity to a nearby army base. Or in other words, to save a few bucks.

Lawyers representing the villagers, however, argued that international law clearly prohibits the expulsion of residents from an occupied territory, as well as the permanent seizure of land for military use.

A year later, however, a senior IDF officer admitted in a Knesset hearing that live-fire training areas are often used in order to displace Palestinian residents.


June 26, 2013 - The mosque in the village of Mufaqara, south of Hebron, an area within the military-designated Firing Zone 918, was demolished by the IDF in 2011. (photo: Matt Surrusco, +972 Magazine)

Firing Zone 918 has gained significant international attention in recent years, with Israeli and international writers urging Israel “to halt its displacement of the Palestinian villages located in Firing Zone 918.”

The international authors included: John le Carre, Michael Chabon, Dave Eggers, Ian McEwan, Nobel laureate Herta Müller and Philip Roth. (Read the full list here.)

“In a reality of ongoing occupation, of solid cynicism and meanness, each and every one of us bears the moral obligation to try and relieve the suffering, do something to bend back the occupation’s giant, cruel hand,” the Israeli authors wrote.

Similar campaigns have recently halted Israeli army efforts to displace impoverished Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills.

The U.S. State Department, most European Union foreign ministers, the United Nations and hundreds of activists all joined a wide public campaign to save the Palestinian village of Susya last year.

Following the public campaign, the Israeli army leaked documents indicating that the Palestinian villagers in Susya do indeed own the land on which their village sits, and the demolition threats quietly disappeared.

Source: http://972mag.com/idf-destroys-20-palestinian-structures-in-west-bank-firing-zone/116609/

[azurnoir]

6. interesting it was stopped(?) after 20 building were destroyed