Israeli forces today conducted large-scale demolitions of Palestinian property in Khirbet Ibzeiq village, near Tubas, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Mu‘taz Besharat, who monitors Israeli settlement activities in Tubas governorate, said that Israeli forces escorted bulldozers into the village, where the heavy machinery has been tearing down residential structures and livestock sheds and sabotaging water tanks and solar panels since 6:00 AM this morning.
The israeli occupiers steal 2 farm tractors in the Palestinian hamlets of Ein al-Hilweh & Ras al-Ahmar, & order the demolition of a water well https://t.co/3PkX160r5E
— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) July 29, 2021
The soldiers also seized several agricultural tractors and private vehicles.
Under international law, driving residents of an occupied territory from their homes is considered a forcible transfer of protected persons, which constitutes a war crime. But residents of Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley are no strangers to such disruptive Israeli policies.
#Israel has been vowing to forcibly takeover the Jordan Valley for years. Bit by bit they forced families out, demolished homes and clinics. Today in Humsa, families, children watch the violent demolition, experience the displacement. Call out ethnic cleansing. Stop ur complicity pic.twitter.com/RHr633l43e
— مريم البرغوثي (@MariamBarghouti) July 7, 2021
The valley, which is a fertile strip of land running west along the Jordan River, is home to about 65,000 Palestinians and makes up approximately 30% of the West Bank.
Since 1967, when the Israeli army occupied the West Bank, Israel has transferred at least 11,000 of its Jewish citizens to the Jordan Valley. Some of the settlements in which they live were built almost entirely on private Palestinian land.
(WAFA, PC, Social Media)
