Civil Administration destroyed 13 illegal Palestinian structures

B’Tselem charged that the structures were part of the Beduin Al-Khdeirat community and housed two families of 17 people, of whom 10 were minors.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Updated: SEPTEMBER 3, 2015 19:00
A girl climbs on top of belongings that were in illegal structures in the Beduin Al-Khdeirat community (photo credit: B'TSELEM)
A girl climbs on top of belongings that were in illegal structures in the Beduin Al-Khdeirat community
(photo credit: B'TSELEM)
The Civil Administration on Monday, August 31 destroyed 13 illegal tin shacks and tents in the Palestinian herding community of Jaba in the West Bank that were built without permits.
"The buildings were demolished after the enforcement process was completed and the relevant orders were issued. It is important to note that the buildings` owner did not file a request for building permits," it said.
B’Tselem charged that the structures were part of the Beduin Al-Khdeirat community and housed two families of 17 people, of whom 10 were minors The Palestinian herding community of 20 families is located just outside of Jerusalem between the Geva Binyamin (also known as Adam) settlement and the village of Jaba, B’Tselem – The Israel Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories said.
It added that the civil administration’s actions on Monday were part of a wave of demolitions in the Palestinian Beduin communities that occurred in August, including in the Jordan Valley and the area of the Ma’aleh Adumim settlement.
“These demolitions take part in the context of efforts by the military and the civil administration to push Palestinian communities out of Area C. These expulsion plans violate international humanitarian law, which prohibits the forcible transfer of protected persons, unless carried out for their own protection or for an imperative military need,” B’Tselem said.
The demolitions come after the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee subcommittee on Judea and Samaria took it to task for failing to deal with the issue of illegal Palestinian building.
MK Moti Yogev (Bayit Yehudi) has charged that the illegal Palestinian building is part of a deliberate attempt to create facts on the ground in Area C and to strengthen Palestinian hold on that territory.
Regavim’s director of international relations Ari Briggs said that the structures which were removed were not residential.
Regavim is an NGO that monitors illegal Palestinian building in Judea, Samaria and east Jerusalem.
He added that Palestinians had just built an illegal school to service Sussiya, a village in the South Hebron Hills.
B’Tselem had initially believed that the Al-Khdeirat demolitions included 25 structures and had left 100 people homeless. It later corrected that data to 15 structures that housed 17 people