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Via: Amnesty International

Palestinian villagers’ homes under threat

Since the Israeli army’s threat to demolish their homes, most of the people living in the village of Hadidiya have moved their tents and shacks a few hundred metres to the hamlet of Humsa. However, on 29 May Israeli forces delivered a written warning to the villagers in Humsa, ordering them to leave the area. They now fear that army bulldozers may return at any time to destroy their homes.

The official reason given by the Israeli army is that area is a “closed military area”, from which the local Palestinian population is barred. Only a few hundred metres away Israeli settlements, illegal under international law, are continuing to expand, on the land from which the local Palestinian population is barred on the “closed military area” pretext.

During July and August, inhabitants of the more isolated hamlets in the Jordan Valley desert tend to shelter from the extreme heat in the villages of Tubas or Tammoun, where they have access to some basic facilities, such as water and electricity, which the Israeli army does not allow them to have in hamlets like Hadidiya and Humsa. However, the inhabitants of Hadidiya and Humsa now fear that even a brief absence would increase the risk that the Israeli army would destroy their homes (as happened in nearby Khirbet Tana in July 2005, when Israeli forces destroyed the entire village) and that they would be prevented from returning.

The Israeli army is continuing to increase its pressure on the local Palestinian population in Hadidiya and Humsa to leave the area. As well as threatening to destroy every single home in the villages, the army continue to deny the Palestinian villagers access to running water, electricity and other essential facilities, and has set up military checkpoints and blockades which restrict their movements.

In a visit to the area in mid-July, an Amnesty International researcher heard from the villagers about the frequent Israeli military patrols in and around the village, during which villagers are warned that their homes are about to be demolished, and are threatened with arrest if they do not leave the area. The Amnesty International delegate witnessed the extremely difficult conditions in which the villagers are forced to live: They are forbidden from building permanent structures, and so are forced to live in tents and shacks, which provide little shelter from the extreme heat in the summer and bitter cold in the winter, and are not allowed to use the wells and the roads in the area, as these are for the exclusive use of the nearby Israeli settlements, which have well-watered gardens and swimming pools.

The Palestinian Bedouin residents of Hadidiya have lived in the area since before Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967. They have traditionally been farmers and herders, living off their crops and the dairy products from their sheep and goats. The growing restrictions imposed by the Israeli army in recent years on their movements and access to water have made it increasingly difficult for them to survive in the area. Now the Israeli army is taking steps to force them out of the area altogether.

The villagers have welcomed international pressure, which has brought several high-level delegations to visit the Hadidiya and Humsa area. However, as international attention diminishes the threat to the villagers increases and further action now is crucial.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
For years Israel has pursued a policy of discriminatory house demolition, allowing scores of Israeli settlements, illegal under international law, to be built on occupied Palestinian land, while confiscating Palestinian lands, refusing building permits for Palestinians and destroying their homes. The land vacated has often been used for Israeli settlements. This is a violation of international law, which forbids occupying powers from settling their own citizens in the territories they occupy.

Palestinians, especially Palestinian Bedouins, who live in the Jordan Valley, have suffered particular pressure. Most of the Jordan Valley area of the occupied West Bank has been declared a military area by the Israeli army or has been taken over by some 36 Israeli settlements.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English, Hebrew or your own language:
- expressing concern that the residents of Humsa and Hadidiya are facing the demolition of their homes, and calling for the demolition orders to be rescinded;
- calling on the authorities to place a moratorium on house demolitions and forced evictions in the occupied West Bank until the law is amended to bring it into line with international standards;
- calling for the restrictions imposed on the Palestinian villagers in the Jordan Valley to be lifted, in particular for them to have access to water, electricity and other essential services, and for them to be allowed to move freely within the Jordan Valley, and between there and the rest of the West Bank;
- calling for responsibility for planning and building regulations in the Jordan Valley and elsewhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to be removed from the Israeli military authorities and placed solely with the local Palestinian communities.

APPEALS TO:

Ehud Bark
Minister of Defence
Ministry of Defence
37 Kaplan Street, Hakirya
Tel Aviv 61909, Israel
Fax: +972 3 691 6940
Email: minister@mod.gov.il
Salutation: Dear Minister

Brigadier General Avihai Mandelblit
Military Judge Advocate General
David Elazar Street
Tel Aviv, Israel
Fax: +972 3 608 0366
Email: arbel@mail.idf.il
Salutation: Dear Judge Advocate General

Commander
District Coordination Office (DCO)
Jericho, West Bank, via Israel
Fax: +972 2 9943305
Salutation: Dear Sir

COPIES TO: diplomatic representatives of Israel accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 7 September 2007.

—-
East Mediterranean Team
Amnesty International, International Secretariat
Peter Benenson House, 1 Easton Street
London WC1X 0DW
United Kingdom
E-mail: Eastmed@amnesty.org
Tel: +44 (0)20 7413 5500
Fax: +44 (0)20 7413 5719

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