B’Tselem: IDF temporarily evicts 10 Palestinian families

The Civil Administration on Monday handed out temporarily eviction orders to 10 Palestinian families living in a herding village in the northern Jordan Valley so the IDF can conduct a military exercise, according to B’Tselem.

The families of some 50 people must be absent from their homes from 5 p.m. Wednesday until 5 a.m. on Thursday, according to B’Tselem.

The temporary eviction orders are the latest step in a longstanding dispute between the IDF and the village of a-Ras al-Ahmar, populated by some 20 families and 120 people, that is located near the settlements of Ro’i and Bekaot.

In 2015 and 2016, the IDF handed out such orders 19 times, according to B’Tselem.

“In addition, since September 2016, the Civil Administration demolished 10 homes in the community and seized 10 tractors used for carrying water and animal feed to the community,” B’Tselem said.

The village is made up of temporary shacks and tents. In the last two years the Civil Administration has increased its enforcement against illegal Palestinian construction in Area C of the West Bank, particularly in the herding villages in the Jordan Valley and the Ma’aleh Adumim area.

In 2017, the Civil Administration demolished some 140 illegal Palestinian and Beduin structures in Area C of the West Bank, mostly in the herding villages.