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Viewpoint - July 22, 2010
IDF destroys West Bank village after declaring it
military zone
Since 1967, Israel has prevented the growth of Palestinian
communities in the Jordan Valley by cutting off their
water supply or declaring large areas as live fire zones.
By Amira Hass
The IDF's Civil Administration destroyed a Palestinian
village Monday morning that had earlier been cleared out
when its water supply was cut off.
The IDF demolished about 55 structures in the West Bank
village of Farasiya, including tents, tin shacks, plastic
and straw huts, clay ovens, sheep pens and bathrooms.
These structures served the 120 farmers, hired workers
and their families who lived in the Jordan Valley village.
The Civil Administration said they had declared the area a
live fire zone and posted eviction orders for 10 families
in tents on June 27.
"Since no appeal was filed in the following three weeks,
and given the danger posed by the location of the tents,
they were removed," they said in response.
The villagers made a living by sheep farming and working
land owned by families in the town of Tubas. Some of them
have been living in Farasiya for decades.
A packaging warehouse that was built together with Agrexco
in the late 1970s was also torn down.
Atef Abu al-Rob, a photographer for the Israeli human
rights group B'Tselem, who arrived at the village hours
after the demolition, said mattresses, pipes and broken
furniture were lying on the ground in the debris.
Since 1967, Israel has prevented Palestinian communities
in the Jordan Valley from growing, whether by cutting off
their water supply, declaring large areas as live fire
zones or banning all construction.
About a year ago the IDF set up hundreds of warning signs
near Palestinian farming communities, marking them closed
military areas. Such a sign was set up at the entrance to
Farasiya.
The families had recently been forced to leave the village
when the Israeli authorities cut it off from its water
sources, said the popular committees' coordinator in the
valley, Fathi Hadirat. The villagers were forbidden to use
the water wells the Mekorot Water Company had dug in the
area.
Hadirat said a few years ago the Civil Administration
destroyed the pipe the villages had laid from a nearby
stream used for drinking water and irrigation.
Since then they have been watering the sheep and fields
with water unfit for human consumption, pumped from a
salt water source. They received drinking water in tanks.
About four months ago the IDF confiscated their pumps.
On Sunday, 10 families from Bardala, a village north of
Farasiya, were given demolition notices.
A farmer who owns 300 sheep was told to leave in 24 hours
or his herd would be confiscated.
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