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Stop work and demolition order on an agricultural cistern in Tuqu’/ Bethlehem governorate
Violation: demolition order on an agricultural cistern.
Location: Tuqu’/ Bethlehem governorate.
Date: June 11 /2018.
Perpetrator: The Israeli occupation civil administration and army.
Victims: Ahmad Jebreen’s family.
Description:
A vehicle from the Israeli occupation civil administration raided Tuqu’ town and delivered stop-work order to an agricultural cistern claiming that it was built before getting proper licenses.
The military order ordered the immediate stoppage of the construction, and demolish what was built within 7 days from receiving the military order, in case the owner failed to implement the operation, the occupation will carry out the demolition and bill the costs on the owner.
Noteworthy, the owner prepared the legal file and hired a lawyer hoping to get a permission that serves wide agricultural areas in Tuqu’, It is important to point out that the occupation notified 7 cisterns and an agricultural barracks in the same area.
According to LRC observation team, the Israeli occupation notified 20 cisterns to stop work in west bank including Jerusalem that serve 125 agricultural dunums and have a capacity of 1585 m3 , other than demolishing 7 cisterns with a 405 m3 capacity, and 720 water lines in the Jordan valley area.
About Tuqu'[1]:
Tuqu' is an old Canaanite name which meant "placing of tents"; the crusaders called it "Thecua" as it was one of their strongholds in Bethlehem area.
Tuqu' has a great deal of Roman, Greek, and Mamluke ruins considering its strategic location.
One of the most significant ruins is the "baptism basin" which is a stony artifact that has been cut and formed. It represents a number of Christian sects.
It is believed that the artifact has been made around the 1750s; it is also believed that this is one part of a two-part artifact; the second part's location is unknown.
Tuqu' is surrounded by 5 Israeli colonies including Tquah, AlDavid, Nokdim, in addition to two other colonies to the south, Mizpe Shalim and Mushki Dar Got.
Tuqu' total area is 10 km2. Therefore it is considered the largest rural community in Palestine. The village is 12km to the west of Bethlehem governorate and is covered by evergreen trees, making it an attractions to many visitors and tourists.
It is inhabited by 8767 people by 2017 including all its four parts namely: Tuqu' , Khirbet Tuqu', Khirbet al-Dair, and al-Halqum .
[1] Source: LRC- GIS.
