Israeli military demolishes homes, makes 100 homeless

Israeli forces have demolished 16 homes and a school in the Palestinian village of Khirbet Tana, making 100 people homeless including 34 children. The village has lived under a total construction ban since the 1980s and was almost entirely destroyed in 2005 when the army demolished 29 structures including an elementary school.

Bulldozers and army personnel arrived early in the morning on Sunday, 10^th January to demolish the structures. A group of Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) based in Yanoun arrived as they were leaving.

“We could see clearly several bulldozed properties and the demolished school, next to the mosque which was still standing,” reported the EAs.

“After a time we received coffee and were told that the residents would rebuild, that hopefully things would be built up again in a month, and that the families were of course not leaving.”

“We all stood quietly, one went to sit with the women. We weren’t sure what to say or do. After 20 minutes or so, men began to remove the metal sheets that had been the walls of the demolished structure and take them over to a new site the other side of the track – building had begun.”

Khirbet Tana is located in Area C of the West Bank, which under the Oslo Accords fell under Israeli control and where Palestinians face severe building restrictions. The Israeli army declared the Khirbet Tana area a closed military zone in the 1980s and residents are not allowed to build even where they own the land. Having no alternative, they like many Palestinians are forced to build illegally and risk demolition of their properties.

The village’s residents, who have also faced violent harassment by residents of the nearby Israeli settlement of Itamar, rebuilt their houses with international assistance after the 2005 demolitions, but the Israeli courts issued a demolition order on the structures in January last year.

“The provision of emergency assistance can only address a small portion of the needs of families and communities that have lost their homes,” said a spokesperson for the Displacement Working Group, a committee of humanitarian organizations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

“What is needed is to bring ongoing demolitions and displacement to a halt.”