Violation: Stop-work orders for  3construction projects of residences

Location: Nahhalin – Bethlehem Governorate

Date: 24/06/2018

Perpetrators:  the Israeli Occupation Civil Administration

Victim(s): Ali Shakarneh, Yousef Fannoun, Hussein Izzat Shakarneh   

Details:

On June 24, 2018,  a large force of the Israeli army with Civil Administration staff broke into Nahhalin and served stop-work orders on three under construction residences in different areas in town under the pretext of unlicensed construction. The orders stated that the Inspection Sub-Committee  of the Civil Administration scheduled a session to take place on July 23,2018 in Beit El to discuss the status of the notified structures (whether the structures should be demolished or retrieved to their previous state).  

One of the affected Palestinians, Yousef Fannoun, stated the following to the LRC field researcher :

"Some Civil Administration staff, under the protection of the Israeli army, passed by and handed me a stop-work order, calling for immediate termination of any construction work. During their raid, there were 3 concrete pumping machines in action. The Civil Administration officer gave us less than half an hour to take the machines out or otherwise the pumps would be confiscated. Upon informing them that half an hour was not enough time and after a verbal altercation, they gave us two hours and it was barely enough."

The under-construction house of Yousef Fannoun is located in the area of Tour al-Batayeh, a hill in the town of Nahhalin. Currently, it is a construction site to some inhabitants of the village as they view it as an extension of the village and a potential area for rural expansion and growth. However, the Israeli occupation has a different plan in mind for the area. People of Nahhalin predict that the Israeli authorities are interested in Tour al-Batayeh in order to link the settlement of Beitar Illit with the colonies of Gush Etzion. Therefore, under the pretext of building without a permit, the Israeli occupation stops citizens from building in that area.

"The occupation seeks to seize the most beautiful areas in the town, such as al-Batayeh area, which is the highest area in Nahalin, so we encourage citizens to build on their lands in those areas. We are working together to protect the lands targeted by the occupation," said Wafa Najajra, a member of Nahhalin municipality.

It is worth mentioning that the town of Nahhalin is heavily targeted by the Israeli occupation forces. The town is also subjected to settler attacks, as well as closures of agricultural roads to limit the movement of villagers and constrict their access to their lands.

The following tables shows information about the affected citizens:

Source: Field Research- Monitoring Israeli Violations Team- Land Research Centre (LRC), June 2018.

 The targeted houses under construction Photos from

 Images of stop-work orders

Nahhalin:

The village is located 10km to the south west of Bethlehem and 3.5 km to the east of the armistice line of 1949.

The village's total area is 18,858 dunums including 890 dunums of built-up area, inhabited by8805 people according to the PBS statistics of 2014.

Israel has confiscated 4,283 dunums from the village lands 3,583 dunums of which  for colonial expansion purposes and 700 dunums for the favor of bypass roads. There are 8 colonies founded  on the village land, namely (Beit Ein, Tsoref, Majdal Oz, Jabot, Kfar Etzion, Efrat, Illit, Rosen Tsurem and Allon Shevut).

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.