2021-06-08
Pools and an Agricultural road targeted in Bardala village / Tubas Governorate
Violation: Two pools and partial ravaging of an agricultural road.
Location: Bardala village / Tubas Governorate.
Date: June 8th 2021.
Perpetrators: The building inspector- The Israeli Civil Administration.
Victims: Citizens Samer Sawafta and Mohammed Sawafta.
Description:
Tuesday, June 8th 2021, The Israeli Occupation Forces in Coordination with the building inspector at the Israeli Civil Administration raided Bardala village at the northern Jordan Valley. A bulldozer related to the Israeli Occupation Carried out a demolition operation for two water pools used in agricultural and provide irrigation water for 130 dunums planted with vegetables and fruits like grapes. The pools provide irrigation water for 16 farmers families at the village.
The targeted pools were built late last March with the support of the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture under project: Agricultural Cluster which is funded by the Palestinian Ministry of Finance. Noteworthy, the targeted structures received demolition notice number (1797) in May 31st 2021, and despite coordination with the legal department in Tubas Governorate, they failed to freeze the order.
The following table shows more information about the targeted structures:
Owner of the pool | Beneficiaries (Farmers) | numbers of the affected families | Children affected | Area provided with water from pools | Storage capacity of the pools (m3) | Military order number | Photo |
Samer Sawafta | 7 | 31 | 11 | -45 dunums planted with vegetables -20 dunums of protected agriculture | Pool (250 cubic meters) | 21677 | 1 |
Mohammed Sawafta | 9 | 51 | 17 | -20 dunums of vine yards -48 dunums planted with vegetables -8 dunums of protected agriculture | Pool (1000 cubic meters) | 21676 | 2 |
total | 16 | 82 | 28 | 130 | 350 |
Source: Firsthand field observation – Israeli Violations Monitoring Section- Land Research Center, June 2021
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Photos 1-6: Demolition of Water pool
One of the victims, Farmer Ahmad As-Saba’e told LRC the following:
“Palestinian farmers especially in summer time suffer from water shortage, the “Share” the occupation leaves for farmers after devouring all the water is insufficient, and they have to buy water in such high prices to cover their needs. The pool helped in covering part of their needs through water harvesting techniques, but the occupation forces aborted that idea. The Israeli Occupation also defeats Palestinian farmers through high production of agricultural products on the land they stole and by the water they took from Palestinians to dump the Palestinian market with Israeli products, while Palestinian farmers standalone against them.”
In addition, With a bulldozer the occupation destroyed parts of the Agricultural road that leads to Qa’on valley, the road travels 2 km and links the village to Qa’on valley. It is taken by number of farmers every day and provides access to 280 dunums planted with vegetables, the road is 40 m long and was rehabilitated by Union of Agricultural Work three years ago.
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Photos 7+8: The targeted road in the ravaging
About Bardala:[1]
25 km to the north of Tubas, Bardala village is surrounded by the Green Line (north), Raba (west), Ain al Baeda (east) and Tubas (south).
It has a population of 1607 people( 2017 census). Its total area is 18329 dunums, of which 404 dunums are considered built-up area.
The Israeli occupation devoured 252 dunums of its land to build bypasses road , especially road no.90. It also confiscated 819 dunums to build the Separation Wall and isolated 2100 dunums of Bardala land as a result.
According to Oslo Accords, 90% of the village is classified as area “C”, which is under Israeli authority while only 5% is area “B” that is under the control of PA.
- Area B (910 dunums)
- Area C (16845 dunums)
[1] GIS-LRC
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