For the second time since the beginning of this year, Israel’s Civil Administration has demolished all the structures in the Palestinian community of Khirbet ‘Ein Karzaliyah. In an operation conducted on Wednesday, March 4, Civil Administration bulldozers also razed the dirt road leading to the northern Jordan Valley community which is now no longer accessible by car.
Residents of Khirbet ‘Ein Karzaliyah after the demolition of March 4, 2015. (Photo: B’Tselem)
Khirbet ‘Ein Karzaliyah is a small shepherding community about five kilometers southwest of the village of al-Jiftlik. The land on which the community is situated belongs to residents of the village of Aqrabah, about 20 kilometers to the east. The community consists of three families, originally from Aqrabah, who have lived on this site for over 25 years. The total number of residents is currently 31, including 16 minors. The residents make a living from agriculture and shepherding and rely on water from a nearby spring. Their children attend school in al-Jiftlik. In 1972, Israel’s military declared the area in which Khirbet ‘Ein Karzaliyah is located to be a closed military zone (No. 904) on the grounds that it was needed as a firing range. According to the residents, no military exercises were held in the area until 2012. Since then, they report, the situation has changed and the army maintains a noticeable presence in the vicinity of the village.
According to B’Tselem, between January 2014 and January 2015, the Civil Administration demolished all the structures in the village on three separate occasions, while a fourth time it wrecked some of the structures. Before the action of March 4, the last previous demolition took place on January 22, 2015, when the Civil Administration again tore down all structures in the village, including five tents used by the families as living quarters; these tents were also purposely vandalized. Since then, the residents have been working to repair and reset the tents as well as the structure used for their livestock.
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