45 RESIDENTS, INCLUDING 30 CHILDREN, OF UMM AL-KHEIR VILLAGE
Zwangsräumungsopfer: © CPT
The Israeli army demolished six homes and other structures on 29 October, leaving 45 Palestinians homeless in the village of Umm al-Kheir, in the Southern Hebron Hills region of the occupied West Bank.
The demolished properties were home to brothers Ali and Salem Muhammad al-Hathaleen, their families and the families of Suleiman and Salem 'Eid al-Hathaleen. Much of the families' furniture was damaged by the workers contracted by the Israeli army to clear the homes prior to the demolition. Other non-residential structures were also demolished, including an animal pen that housed the villagers' herds. The villagers of Umm al-Kheir mostly depend on goat herding for their livelihood.
The health and security of these homeless families are a growing concern with the onset of winter, which brings cold temperatures and rain. The residents have been provided with tents and other emergency supplies by the UN Office of the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who visited the village immediately after the demolition.
The Israeli army last demolished homes in Umm al-Kheir on 14 February 2007, when it destroyed six homes. For years it has been exerting pressure on the village's Palestinian residents to abandon the area even though the villagers have lived there for generations. In recent years several other families in Umm al-Kheir and neighbouring villages have had their homes and animal pens destroyed and hundreds more have demolition orders pending on their properties.
Zwangsräumungsopfer: © CPT
Residents of Umm al-Kheir and neighbouring villages are concerned that further demolitions will be carried out and more families will be made homeless. The Israeli army claims that the demolished homes and other structures that are under threat of demolition have been built without building permits, but at the same time the army has consistently refused to grant building permits to Palestinians living in "Area C", an area which covers 60 per cent of the occupied West Bank.
At the same time, Israel continues to expand hundreds of Israeli settlements, illegal under international law, on occupied Palestinian land illegally confiscated in the Southern Hebron Hills and elsewhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). To enable the expansion of Israeli settlements, the Israeli army forces Palestinian residents out of the areas by refusing them building permits, demolishing their homes, denying access to water, electricity and other essential services and imposes stringent restrictions on their movements in the area.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS TO ARRIVE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE, IN ENGLISH, HEBREW OR YOUR OWN LANGUAGE:
Ehud Barak
Minister of Defence
Ministry of Defence,
37 Kaplan Street, Hakirya, Tel Aviv 61909, Israel
Fax: 00 972 3 691 6940
Email: minister@mod.gov.il
Salutation: Dear Minister
President Shimon Peres
President of the State of Israel
The Office of the President
3 Hanassi Street, Jerusalem 92188, Israel
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00 972 2 566 4838
Email: public@president.gov.il president@president.gov.il s_peres@netvision.net.il
www.president.gov.il
Salutation: Dear President
Major General Gadi Shamni
Commander, West Bank
Central Commander Office 64, Military Mail 02367 - IDF, Israel
Fax: 00 972 2 5305741
Salutation: Dear Major General Shamni
COPIES TO
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