Land Research Center

Violation: Demolition of the home of a prisoner's family.

Location: Jeb al-Rais area - Ni'lin town / Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate.

Violation date: 22/06/2022.

The aggressor: the so-called building inspector of the Israeli Civil Administration.

Affected party: the family of the prisoner Barakat Ali Fayez Khawaja.

Violation details:

On the morning of Wednesday, June 22, 2022, the occupation bulldozers, along with large forces of the Israeli occupation army, accompanied by the so-called construction inspector of the Israeli Civil Administration, raided the town of Ni’lin, west of Ramallah, and demolished a house under construction belonging to the prisoner Barakat Khawaja, under the pretext of building without a license.

It is noteworthy that the occupation army imposed a strict siege on the western neighborhood called "Jib al-Rayes", before carrying out the demolition process through the bulldozers of the occupation.

The table shows the following information:

The affected woman, Hanadi Odeh Muhammad Nafeh, the wife of the prisoner Barakat, told the field researcher of the Land Research Center:

“In the beginning of last October my husband built the house with the aim of securing a shelter for our family, and because of his arrest, the building of the house was not completed. We were notified and at the beginning of June the house was notified of the demolition. We tried to obtain a license, but the occupation rejected all our attempts, and we do not have the money to rebuild it. There are old accumulated debts that are difficult to pay at the present time, and it cost us to build the house until the date of the demolition, 85,000 shekels”.

The targeted house was notified previously on Tuesday (7/6/2022) through a military notification under the title of removing a new building, and bearing the notification number (21334), whereby the occupation set a period not exceeding 96 hours to demolish the house under the reasons for not licensing according to the description of the occupation based on the unjust military law No. (1797), however, the aggrieved family submitted a petition to the Central Occupation Court in Jerusalem, but on Sunday morning (20/6/2022), the petition was rejected by the occupation and the court initiated a process of demolition of the house under security reasons.

According to the field researchers of the Land Research Center, the occupation has, for many years, notified dozens of residential and agricultural facilities in the town, in addition to the demolition of many industrial facilities in the area known as “Al-Muhalal” of the town, where the occupation is trying to pressure the Palestinian citizens in any ways and forms to depriving them of their most basic civil rights to live in dignity on the land they originally owned.

An order to carry out the demolition according to Law 1797

Demolition photos

Ni’lin[1]:

20 km to the northwest of Ramallah, Ni’lin is edged by the towns of Qibya and Budrus from the north, Al-Midyah town from the southwest, Deir Qidees town from the east and Mod’in and Kiryat Sefer colonies from the south.

Ni’lin is inhabited by 5897 people on a total land area of 15,206 dunums, of which 748 dunums are the village’s built-up area. The occupation confiscated a total of 3020 dunums for colonial ends, which are detailed as follows:

• Hashmona’im settlement: it was established in 1985 on confiscated area of 858 dunums from the village. It is now inhabited by 2097 settlers.
• Kiryat Sefer: it was established in 1991 on confiscated area of 476 dunums from the village. It is now inhabited by 24,290 settlers.
• Mattityahu settlement: it was established in 1980 on confiscated area of 657 dunums from the village. It is now inhabited by 1365 settlers.
• Settlement bypass road number 446 confiscated 408 dunums
• The apartheid wall confiscated 621 dunums in favor of its construction and isolated 14,083 behind it.

According to Oslo Accords lands classifications, Ni’lin lands are classified as follows:

• 1,123 dunums are classified as area “B”.

[1] GIS- LRC.