Violation: stop-work orders issued on 3 structures

Location: Al-Khadr town – Bethlehem Governorate

Date: June 20, 2018

Perpetrators:  The Israeli Occupation Civil Administration and Army

Victim(s): Ibrahim Saleh, Youssef Mousa, Omar Da'dou'.

Details:

A force of the Israeli army accompanied by the Civil Administration staff stormed the area of Abu-Assud and the Ballou' valley in al-Khadr on June 20^th 2018, and served stop work orders on three under construction houses in the area under the pretext of lacking building permits.

Iyad Issa from the municipality of Al-Khader recounted the following to our LRC field researcher:

"We inquired about the reason these houses received stop-work orders to which the officer of the Israeli Civil Administration responded by saying that these structures were within the control of the Israeli authorities and according to that, the owners should apply for building permits. In reality we know that this is only a pretext under which the Israeli authorities expand their greedy plans to control more land and we know that the authorities do not easily grant Palestinians building permits if they were to apply for one."  

The Israeli authorities mentioned, in the orders, that the houses were unlicensed construction and compelled owners to go for immediate termination. 16 July 2018 (at 9am) was set as the Inspection Sub-Committee of the Civil Administration session to consider the status of the notified structures.

Inhabitants of al-Khadr town told the LRC field researcher, "The land is ours; we inherited it from our ancestors, and we will not get out of it. In fact, we will continue to develop and take care of it, so that our children will inherit it from us."

It is worth mentioning that the Israeli authorities have been attacking the village of Al-Khader through the issuance of military orders to confiscate more land in addition to massive colonial expansion for the settlements on the town lands. The stop-work orders on Palestinian structures and houses are also on the rise. These practices are in accordance with the colonial aspirations of the Israeli occupation to achieve what is called Greater Jerusalem. The Israeli occupation pursues this expansion plan, even if it would come at the expense of the town lands.

Below are some information on the families whose houses are under threat:

Photos 1-3: Images of the stop-work orders

Photos 3-6: The houses that received the orders  

Al Khadr:

Located 4 kilometer west of Bethlehem, Al Khadr village is surrounded by Beit Jala and Battir (north), Husan and Nahhalin (west), Ad Doha, Wadi Rahall, and Beit Jala (east), Wadi An Nais (south).

Al Khadr has a population of 9774 according to statistics conducted in 2007. It has a total area of 8279 dunums, 184 of which are built-up area.

The Israeli occupation confiscated 29 dunums of Al Khadr lands for Efrat and Daniel colonies. Efrat was built in 1979 and devoured 5.8 dunums of Al Khadr. It is inhabited by 7037 colonists. Daniel was built in 1982 and confiscated 23 dunums. 1073 colonists live in the colony.

Bypasses number 60 and 375 devoured more than 487 dunums. Not to mention the Apartheid Wall that destroyed 280 dunums and isolated 5638 dunums of the village. The Wall in Al Khadr is 2805 meters long.

According to Oslo Accords, 10% of Al Khadr is under Area A (PA has full civil and security control) while 6% is under Area B (PA is in charge of civil matters with Israel responsible for security). However,  most of the village lands (84%) is under Area C (Israel maintains full security and administrative control). Here are the area in dunums:

Area A (808) dunums

Area B (475) dunums

Area C (6996) dunums

The contents of this document is the sole responsibility of LRC and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union