Description

from UN Displacement Working Group (DWG), Occupied Palestinian Territories (oPT)


FAMILIES ORDERED TO SELF-DEMOLISH HOMES BY 16:00H ON MAY 9TH:

Dear all,

This message to update you that the legal aid partner working on the case of Khan al-Ahmar Kurshan area has received a response to the objection filed with regards to the eight eviction orders with 24-hour deadlines. The appeal was rejected and the community has until tomorrow (9 May) at 16:00h to self-demolish their structures. If the community does not dismantle its structures by that time the Israeli Civil Administration will demolish them. Further legal steps are being taken in a last attempt to delay the demolition further. However, it is deemed that the chances for this are rather slim. Other options are also being looked at.

The community would welcome any type of protective presence throughout the day tomorrow, and particularly at 16.00h. Thank you for spreading this message to your networks and please do keep us posted if you have any other updates or suggestions.


Please find also for your information a timeline documenting the most recent events in the wider Jerusalem periphery.


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May 7, 2012, 7:30 pm

Please find below a short update about worrying events in the Jerusalem Periphery.


Khan al-Ahmar Kurshan

The Israeli Civil Administration (ICA) issued eight eviction orders to the Kurshan community of the Khan al-Ahmar cluster in the afternoon of Sunday 6 May 2012. The orders have a 24 hour time-limit. The orders affect the eight families of the community, who have been part of a recent shelter rehabilitation project. The Kurshan families have used this location seasonally since the 1960s, moving up and down from Nabi Musa area. In 1992 they were evicted from Nabi Musa and reportedly instructed by the ICA to move to the Khan al-Ahmar area. They report that they have been permanent in their current location since then. The land belongs to ‘Issawiya. Since arriving in this location they have never received any orders from the ICA until today.

It was reported that the ICA officers who delivered the orders were named ‘Malka’ and ‘Tal’. The name Malka also appears to be on the eviction orders. The ICA officers informed those present in the community that “the community had built illegally and that Area C was not for Palestinians.” They further appear to have said that there is “the intention to move all the Bedouin to a place where they can build legally in one place.” Please find attached a photo of the ICA officer Malka (in red T-shirt) handing out the orders.

In the meantime, an appeal was filed against the eviction orders in an attempt to buy time. However, due to the short deadline on the eviction orders it is possible that an eviction and/or demolition will take place nevertheless, once the deadline expires. This means that the community is at a very high displacement risk as of tonight. Networks in oPt and in Europe have been alerted to the situation, but there is a clear need for protective presence and advocacy activities.


Khan al-Ahmar school

In further events in the eastern Jerusalem periphery, the Israeli Channel 1 aired a report on Khan al-Ahmar school community and the petition lodged by the settlers against the ICA regarding the demolition of the school. At the very end of the report, the journalist reads out a statement from the ICA saying that the school “will be demolished at the end of the school year”. The end of the school year is in some three weeks time. For those who understand Hebrew, the clip is on the http://www.iba.org.il/ website and starts around minute 33.30 and ends around minute 37. The title of the clip is Mabad (and has a photo of the two presenters a woman and a man, currently second item on the right on the website).


As you may know, in August 2011, a settler organization from Kfar Adumim settlement filed a petition requesting the Israeli Ministry of Defence and Civil Administration execute the demolition order against the school. The formal response was submitted to the court on 19 April and it specifies as follows: “The Minister of Defence reviewed the issue on April 5th and decided to move the school from its current location to another one. The minister instructed the relevant authorities to try and find an alternative suitable location to the school and to implement the relocation during the next upcoming months.”


Further to the broader situation of forced relocation of the Bedouin communities in the eastern Jerusalem periphery, the ICA conducted a second round of visits to several communities today 7 May. They visited Wadi Sneysel and Bir al-Maskoob. These communities were also informed that they will be relocated from their current locations, according to the law. The earlier visits, taking place between 18 and 23 April, brought the ICA to Khan al-Ahmar school community and others in the Khan al-Ahmar cluster.

The officers carried out a house to house visit of the community, taking detailed information on each family, including:

o Family details
o What types of employment the family has, including locations and exact hours of work per day, per week and per month.
o Livestock figures per family.

The ICA team reportedly photographed and counted all structures in the communities.

In summary:
o The ICA has verbally informed a number of communities in the Ma’ale Adumim expansion area that they will be moved to an alternative location and that the ICA has been ordered to identify a site for their relocation. It is not clear whether the intention is to relocate all the eastern groups to one single location.
o The ICA has not yet visited all communities, finding some people absent during their visits.
o The ICA also asked for contact details for the spokesperson of a community, which is outside the Ma’ale Adumim expansion area to the east of the Khan al-Ahmar cluster. Some Bedouin think this proposed transfer will include the Rd 1 Bedouin groups also outside the Ma’ale Adumim expansion area.
o The ICA informed the groups they visited that would return soon to continue discussions.

Attached is a short timeline of events taking place in the Jerusalem periphery in 2012. For further background information please refer to the following factsheet: http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_bedouin_FactSheet_October_2011_english.pdf or watch the following film "Nowhere left to go – The Jahalin Bedouin" by the Jahalin Association: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOxwVlGn0R4&feature=player_embedded

Evictions orders have also been handed out in the old City and settlers/settler organizations have issued verbal eviction warnings in the Um Harun area of Sheikh Jarrah. More information on these cases will follow.

If you have information on any of the above cases, or if you are planning to carry out any activities, please contact us.

Lastly, pasted below is a link to an article in the Jerusalem Post regarding the possibility that a punitive home demolition will be carried out against the family homes of those who killed the family in Itamar in March of 2011. This would, according to the article be the first such demolition since 2005: http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=268851

DWG oPt