Violation: House demolition in Battir.

Location: Battir / Bethlehem.

Date: July 2 , 2018.

Perpetrators: IOF.

Victim: Citizen Raed Abu Hartheyeh.

Details:

In July 2 , the occupation's bulldozer broke into Battir and demolished Raed Abu Hartheyeh home on the pretext of building without permission.

Eng.Lara from Battir municipality told LRC observer:

"IOF broke into the town and demolished a home, they use the pretext of "unauthorized building" to commit crimes against people of Battir, on the purpose of clearing out the town's people and take over the land"

Affected citizen (Raed Abu Hartheyeh) told LRC observer:

"IOF broke into my home, while I was alone, and asked me to clear out within 5 minutes , I told them that I do not want to leave but they forced me , I took with me everything I could of furniture and belongings".

Citizen Raed Abu Hartheyeh took seven years to build the house due to his bad financial status, but he has been living in it with his family for a while now, He uses solar cells to provide electricity for his family.

Headded: (I have a special needs kid, who requires special care, the demolition affected him psychologically) 

" The house is built away from the town, the road to reach the house is very difficult and need a four wheel drive in the winter, my kids face obstacles every morning in their way to school"

The following chart provides detailed information:

Raed Abu Hartheyeh Home after the demolition

About Battir [1]:

The village is located 7km to the western side of Bethlehem. It is edged by the occupied lands of 1948 from the north and west, al-Walaja village from the northeast, and Husan village from the south.

Battir has a total population of 4696 people until 2017 and has a total land area of 6681 dunum, 832 of which are built-up area.

Oslo Accords divided the lands of Battir as follows:

• 1467 dunums are classified as area B
• 5214 dunums are classified as area C

[1] GIS-LRC

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