A view from the Palestinian village of Tuveyyil, which is one of many villages that the Israeli army has been demolishing for years on the grounds that it is “unlicensed” in Nablus, occupied West Bank on 11 December 2024. [Getty]
Last week, Israel handed over notices to demolish dozens of homes in the Palestinian village of Al-Nu’man, near Bethlehem, in the south of the occupied West Bank.
The notifications came after a series of Israeli restrictions, expanding since 1993, as part of a plan to expel the town’s residents and seize its lands for illegal Israeli settlers.
This recent act comes at a time Israel seeks to annex the occupied West Bank, likely during this year.
During the past two years, several Palestinian villages have been subjected to mass demolition of homes and displacement of Palestinian residents, whether as a result of successive Israeli settler attacks or demolition notices delivered by the Israeli army.
A village surrounded
Since 1993, the Israeli-run municipality of occupied Jerusalem notified Al-Nu’man’s Palestinian residents to stop construction under the pretext that it is an area belonging to Jerusalem, even though it is administratively affiliated with the Bethlehem Governorate and its residents hold Palestinian identification documents.
Despite this, the Israeli municipality doesn’t provide any services to them, while also demanding they pay taxes for the very services denied to them.
Jamal Al-Daraawi, head of the village council there, told The New Arab that in 2023, Israel threatened the village residents with confiscating of their homes if the taxes were not paid, amounting to at least 35 thousand shekels ($10,000).
Despite the huge sums of money, a week ago, Israel delivered notices to all residents to demolish their 45 homes, which are located within 23 buildings, the oldest of which were built either 40 years ago or date back to before the British Mandate.
“The problem is that we tried to get a licence for buildings from the Jerusalem Municipality, but we were informed that it is an uninhabitable area and cannot be licensed, and all of these are malicious attempts to displace us from our village,” al-Daraawi added to TNA.
The village, which extends over an area of 1,500 dunums, is inhabited by only 150 Palestinians due to Israeli restrictions which also prohibits building even a small room. Any construction by Palestinians are demolished immediately, and its owner is fined heavily.
Moreover, Israel has surrounded the village with what is dubbed “the apartheid wall” from all sides, separating the village from Bethlehem and Jerusalem, and Israeli forces have installed an electronic gate at its entrance to control movement in and out of the area.
“The population has decreased greatly due to people moving out for the purpose of construction. Young couples are forced to leave to obtain housing. Also, Israel prevents services from entering us under the pretext that we are an area belonging to Jerusalem, so it prevents the entry of waste and gas vehicles, the Civil Defence, and the Ministry of Health, which exacerbates our suffering,” Al-Daraawi noted.
A systematic policy
Demolishing entire villages is not something new for Israel, especially since the arrival of the current extremist government led by Benjamin Netanyahu.
About a month ago, Israel demolished all the homes in the village of Al-Tawil, southeast of Nablus, which is a Bedouin community there, and expelled all its Palestinian residents.
Hassan Malihat, head of the Al-Baidar Bedouin Defence Organisation, told TNA that more than 30 Bedouin communities had their residents forcibly deported from the Jordan Valley and east of Ramallah due to successive attacks by Israeli settlers and the Israeli army, especially in Area C.
“There has been systematic targeting of Bedouin communities since the arrival of the current Israeli government with the aim of controlling more lands,” he stressed.
A seemingly deliberate siege against these communities is carried out through daily attacks, preventing the grazing of livestock, which constitutes their main source of livelihood, or through cutting off water and electricity services, and creating coercive pressures to deport them.
“The Israeli policies followed in the Bedouin areas aim to create vast areas without Palestinians, and the settlers use pastoral settlement to expel the residents and their livestock. Of course, all of this is done with the protection of the Israeli army,” he added.
The demolition of entire villages and the evacuation of their residents coincides with the Israeli approval of a draft resolution allowing illegal Israeli settlers to purchase lands in the occupied West Bank, which many local and international organisations argue is a step towards the complete annexation of the territory.
