Israeli Forces Demolish Palestinian Village in Jordan Valley

Israeli Forces Demolish Palestinian Village in Jordan Valley

Israeli troops and bulldozers are seen as they demolish houses in the Palestinian bedouin village of Khashm al-Daraj in the southern area of Yatta, south of the West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron), on August 14, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Israeli forces demolished last week a residential building and seized tents and other equipment in the Jordan Valley village of Ibziq, north of the occupied West Bank city of Tubas.

Wafa news agency quoted Abdul Majeed Khdeirat, head of Ibziq village council, as stating that Israeli forces raided the village and destroyed a 70-square-meter shack and two water and electricity pumps.

He added that Israeli forces ravaged farms and homes in the village.

The soldiers also seized eight tents that were not yet set up, solar panels, spraying equipment, and building blocks for use by the village’s mosque, clinic, and council, under the pretext that the construction was taking place in a military zone.

At the same time, Israeli military authorities ordered residents of the Jordan Valley to stop installing solar panels in their village.

The Jordan Valley covers an area of about 1.6 million dunams (1,600 km2) and constitutes around 30 percent of the total occupied West Bank. The Valley includes about 280,000 dunams of arable land, 50,000 of which are still used by Palestinians and 27,000 by illegal Israeli settlers.

The majority of the Jordan Valley is under full Israeli military control, despite being within the West Bank. Meanwhile, at least 44 percent of the total land in the Jordan Valley has been confiscated by Israeli forces for military purposes and training exercises.

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