CPTnet
30 May 2007
HEBRON: Two homes demolished in Beqa'a Valley by Israeli military

[Note: Photos of the demolition are available at
http://www.cpt.org/gallery/Homes-demolished-in-the-Beqaa-Valley
<http://www.cpt.org/gallery/Homes-demolished-in-the-Beqaa-Valley> ]

On Monday, 28 May, Israeli military bulldozers destroyed two homes in the
Beqa'a Valley, along the Route 60 settler bypass road, just outside of
Hebron. CPTers Eileen Hanson and Esther Kern responded to a call from the
valley and saw several units of the Israeli Army and Border Police present
when they arrived. When asked why they were destroying the homes, one of
the military personnel answered that they were just 'providing security,' as
the civil administration went about the destruction. Team friend Atta
Jaber, whose immediate family has experience multiple demolitions by the
Israeli military in the past, introduced CPTers to the affected
families--also members of the Jaber clan--and tried to offer them comfort
these families comfort and advice.

One home was under construction and nearly finished. The young man who was
building the house was away at work. His extended family watched in horror
as a Case front-end-loader and then a Hyundai excavator crashed into the
home, destroying the family's months of labor and years of savings in a few
minutes.

At another home just to the south, the military had already destroyed the
addition to one family's home by the time the team arrived. This family has
three children and the mother is two months pregnant with their fourth
child. Hanson and Kern observed that the remainder of the home, which had
no demolition order, was badly damaged by the demolition.

Both families were in the process of appealing the demolition orders against
their property in the Israeli High Court at the time the bulldozers arrived.
Family members and neighbors tried to reason with the drivers of the
bulldozers and speak with the soldiers. They pleaded with the authorities
to allow them one half-hour to call their lawyers, to see if the court might
respond. The soldiers would not permit the delay. A bulldozer took just
eight minutes to demolish one home. All that remains is an unrecognizable
pile of concrete and twisted iron. Now any decision from the High Court is
moot.