On Monday, 2 January 2017, Civil Administration forces came to two communities located north of the Ma’ale Adumim settlement, Wadi Esneisel and Bir al-Maskub. In the first, they demolished the homes of six families, numbering 48 people, including 34 minors, and a livestock pen. Some of these families had already lost their homes in August 2015, when the authorities demolished seven homes in the community.
Members of the Hanani family among the ruins of the entrance to their cave dwelling, demolished on January 3 in Khirbet Tana (Photo: B’Tselem)
According to B’Tselem, in Bir al-Maskub, the second of the two communities, the authorities demolished the homes of four families numbering 30 people, including 18 minors. Some of these families had lost their homes in a previous demolition in April 2016.
The following day, Tuesday, January 3, Civil Administration forces came to the community of Khirbet Tana, located close to Beit Furik, and demolished structures that belong to 14 families, including six homes. The demolitions left 29 people, 15 of them minors, homeless. The forces also demolished 16 livestock pens. In 2016, the Israeli authorities demolished a total of 79 structures in Khirbet Tana on four separate occasions.
These most recent demolitions are the 2017 resumption of the ongoing rampage by Israel aimed at minimizing Palestinian presence in Area C of the occupied West Bank. Many of these demolitions have been repeatedly carried out against small shepherding and farming communities where residents are constantly subject to threats and ongoing Israeli attempts to drive them out of their homes and also remove them from Area C. In light of reported Israeli plans to formally discuss legislation that would annex the settlement city of Ma’ale Adumim, the larger, more immediate context of this last week’s resumption of such demolitions north of that location is more readily understood.
Related:
- Bennett to Propose Bill to Annex Ma’ale Adumim within a Month
- Full report of most recent demolitions by B’Tselem
