Land Research Center

The Israeli occupation demolishes a house under construction in Aqabat Jaber camp / Jericho governorate

• Violation: house demolition.

• Location: Aqabat Jaber camp, south of Jericho.

• Date of violation: 13/06/2022.

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

• The affected party: the family of Ali Hassan Musa Al-Karshan.

• Details of the violation:

On Monday morning (13/6/2022), the Israeli occupation army, accompanied by the so-called construction inspector of the Israeli Civil Administration, stormed the southern side of Aqabat Jaber camp, south of Jericho, where the occupation army imposed a strict siege on the area, before starting In the implementation of a demolition operation there by a private Israeli civilian bulldozer, the demolition affected a house under construction with an area of 120 m² of bricks and a concrete roof, owned by the family of Ali Hassan Musa al-Karshan, a resident of the camp.

Citizen Ali Al-Karshan (45 years old), owner of the targeted facility, told the field researcher of the Land Research Center the following:

“I support a family of (7) members, including (5) children, and among the family members are (4) females, as I work in the agriculture to secure a source of income for my family. I dream of building a new house that meets a decent life for my family. Four years ago, I started building a small house. Because of the difficult possibilities, I was building the house in stages, and on (20/9/2018 AD) I received a notice to stop the construction of the house bearing the number (206104), But on the ground, I do not have papers for the ownership of the land on which the house is built because it belongs to the Husseini Endowment, where I was actually unable to complete the license file, and I was in a constant state of fear, until the occupation came and completely demolished the house, leaving us nothing but pain and heartbreak”.

It is noteworthy that the field research team monitored during the past year 2018, seven houses, including Ali Al-Karshan’s house, were notified of halting construction by the construction inspector of the Israeli Civil Administration. An agreement between the government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees “UNRWA”, whereby the land was allocated for the purpose of temporary settlement of refugees until their long-standing problem was resolved. Despite that, and after the Oslo Accords in 1993, the southern part of Aqabat Jabr camp was signed. Opposite the settlement of "Afrid Yeriho" is within the C-classified areas of the Oslo Accords. The Kreishan family was a victim of this division, and the inevitable result is more suffering for the residents in light of the limited resources in that camp.

Aqbat Jaber camp[1]:

Aqabat Jaber camp is one of the largest refugee camps in the West Bank. It was established in 1948. It is located 3 km southwest of Jericho, bordered to the north by Deir al Krntl (monastery Krntl), and to the east, west and south by Jericho city. Its population was reduced according to the statistics of the Central Bureau of Statistics in 2017. It reached (8,960) people, 83% of whom are registered as refugees. The camp suffers from overcrowding and poor infrastructure.

• Its total area is 1,859 dunums, of which 1,813 dunams are the camp's building surface.

 Classification of camp lands according to the Oslo Accord for the village:

Areas classified as A (1,781) dunams.

Areas classified as B (no) dunams.

Areas classified as C (78) acres.

[1] GIS - LRC