With only 24 hours to object : Stop-Work orders on five residences and a mosque in the Salfit town of Deir Ballut

February 3, 2016

• Violation: Stop-Work orders on structures
• Location:  Deir Ballut town- Salfit
• Date:  February 02, 2016
• Perpetrators: Israeli Occupation Forces and Civil Administration
• Victims:  five Palestinian families

Details:

The Israeli Occupation Forces accompanied by a staff from the Civil Administration on February 02, 2016 raided the area of Bab Al-Marj, east Deir Ballut and delivered five Stop-Work orders on structures on the claim of "unlicensed construction" or also known as "built without a permit" from Israel Civil Administration.

In addition, the force also served a stop-work order on a mosque that is still under construction, east Deir Ballut on the claim of it being "unlicensed". According to the orders, the affected were given until  February 03, 2016 to complete all licensing procedures. The following table shows information about the affected people and property:

Source : Field observation- Department of Monitoring Israeli Violations- Land Research Center- 2016

24 hours only to object to military orders:

In an unprecedented incident , the Israeli Occupation Forces granted the affected citizens 24 hours to object to military orders instead of the commonly known period of 45 days. Technically, this period of time is given so that the affected people prepare the legal file that can support them in Israel courts to obtain building permits.

With the new objection period limited down to 24 hours,  the Israeli Authorities left the Palestinians without any possibility to petition against the orders, where the Israeli Authorities will demolish the houses sooner or later. Noteworthy, the process of serving orders and giving deadlines for objection is an Israeli policy to justify the legality of its actions in front of the international community. But in reality, the main reason behind such measures and actions is to empty Palestinian cities from their indigenous inhabitants and take them over.

It is reported that  three residences were given one day deadline to object to stop-work orders where others were given a month. This left people uncertain about what will happen to their structures and future as well.

It is important to know that the Palestinians living in the “Area C” (about 60% of the total area of the West Bank) need to issue the “building permit” from the Israeli Authorities where most of their request usually denied.

The Village of Deir Ballut:

The village is located on the Green Line west of the Governorate of Salfit at a distance of 20 kilometers from the City of Salfit. The total area of the village is about 13,941 dunums of which 503 dunums are its built-up area. Its population is about 4500, according to the Deir Ballut Municipality, most of whom depend on agriculture as the main source of income.

The dependency of agriculture has risen sharply after the inception of the second Intifada due to the inability to access Israeli job market.

The main agricultural products of the village include garlic, okra, cucumbers, wheat and olives. The presence of a water spring in Wadi Al Ain in the southern parts of the village has helped the agricultural sector to prosper. A for the drinking water of the residents of the village, they rely on water cisterns as well as on the Israeli Water Company. 

In terms of the main clans in the village, there are 9 of them including Tuffaha, Khair, Abdullah, Qasem, Qaroush, Mishel, Mustafa, Musa and Hadrous.

Prepared by
 The Land Research Center
LRC