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ISRAELI DEMOLITIONS CONTINUE
Family of 45 Forced to Live in a Cave
On February 6 at 11:00 a.m. Israeli soldiers surrounded the Rashid family
home in the outskirts of Hebron and ordered the occupants to exit at once.
Without allowing the family to remove its possessions beforehand*, Israeli
troops demolished the house while soldiers and the 45 members of the
Rashid family watched. The Rashid family home was a single structure
divided into three units, housing three generations.
Beneath the destroyed house is a cave which had been used as a shelter for
the family's livestock. The Israelis bulldozed the ruins of the house into
this cave, so that the family would not be able to live inside it. The
operation took four hours. After a few days of living outside in the cold,
the family decided to remove the rubble as best they could. The cave is
now home to 45 men, women, and children, plus a few dozen goats.
One year ago, the Israeli Civil Administration issued an order to destroy
the house, on the grounds that it had been built without a permit. The
family hired a lawyer in Jerusalem, but there had been no recent contact
either from the lawyer or from the authorities to warn the family of the
impending demolition.
The rashid family outside their cave
The Israeli settler lobby has been pressuring the Netanyahu administration
to take vigorous steps to destroy such homes in areas B (under joint
Palestinian-Israeli control) and C (under Israeli control), particularly
those near settlements. (The Rashid house was in the area of the
settlements of Susia, Ma'ayan, and Beit Yatir.) Settlers are concerned
that buildings constructed without Israeli permission will impede the
future expansion of nearby settlements. These demolitions are a
continuation of the Israeli policy of providing for the needs of the
settlers while disregarding the needs of the Palestinians. Since maps are
still being drawn, and some areas now in areas B
and C might soon be transferred to PA control, the settlers and the
government feel a 'need' to expedite house demolitions.
PHRMG Director Bassem Eid visited the family with Israeli journalist
Gideon Levy. A large article on the plight of the Rashid family
subsequently appeared in the Israeli newspaper 'Ha'aretz.' [Feb. 21] The
Israeli authorities said that the family was given time to remove their
possessions from the house.
*The house was demolished without warning, and none of the male members of
the family were present. As a result, furniture and appliances were left
inside, and subsequently destroyed.
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