On the morning of Monday, June 25, 2018, bulldozers of the Israeli municipality leveled agricultural structures located on the main road in the town of Hizma, northeast of the occupied city of Jerusalem. Indeed, forces of Israeli police and Israeli municipality staff with two bulldozers broke into the area in the early hours of the day and then bulldozers embarked on razing three agricultural facilities located on both sides of the main road in the said town. The agricultural facilities were used as nurseries - to display and sell plants. During the demolition of the facilities, the bulldozers also destroyed the land on which the facilities were founded so as to make sure the land is not suitable for construction purposes. The facilities used to provide work for 20 workers, which means 20 families got affected by the demolition.

 During the destruction of the agricultural facilities (plant nurseries)

The destroyed agricultural structures belonged to:

Commenting on what happened, the affected people informed the Land Research Center researcher that:

On Monday morning, large forces of the Israeli occupation police accompanied by employees of the Israeli Municipality and two bulldozers stormed into the area without any prior warning. The police forces ordered us to stay away from the place and informed us that there was an order to demolish the agricultural facilities and they would implement it. They did not show the order to us. All what we knew then was that they took on leveling the facilities and washing away the land so to make reconstruction an unlikely option. This is the fifth time within several years that the municipality has demolished facilities in this area. Destruction of agricultural facilities is not the first time; Israeli bulldozers have demolished nurseries and commercial establishments located in the area many times before.

The occupation authorities have been knocking down agricultural and commercial establishments located in the town of Hizma, especially on the main street of the town. They have distributed demolition orders issued by the Jerusalem Municipality on the pretext that the construction was carried out without the permission from the municipality (unlicensed construction). Simultaneously, the occupation authorities seek to implement settlement plans aimed at building roads in the area to connect settlements. The Palestinian structures, now under threat of demolition, have existed for decades.

This case study is part of Kan'aan Project