The occupation forces a citizen to demolish a car washroom he owns in “Al-Nabi Elias” in Qalqilya Governorate

May 12, 2022

• Violation: Forcing a citizen to demolish a car washroom.
• Location: Al-Nabi Elias Village / Qalqilya Governorate.
• Violation date: Thursday (12/5/2022).
• The aggressor: the so-called Israeli Civil Administration.
• Affected party: Citizen Ahmed Fouad Ahmed Radwan.

Violation details:

On Wednesday morning, May 18, 2022, citizen Ahmed Fouad Ahmed Radwan (32 years old) from the village of Al-Nabi Elias was forced to demolish a car washroom that he owned at the western entrance to the village, after he received a military notice that included demolition and removal orders. Within a period not exceeding 96 hours, when he received it from the so-called building inspector of the Israeli Civil Administration on 12/5/2022.

The military notification bears the number (20126) and was issued in accordance with Military Order No. (1797), which the occupation began implementing in 2018. It targets modern construction in Area C and does not give any opportunity to object to it by the aggrieved Palestinians in the Israeli courts.

Demolition order No. 20126 targeting the car washroom

It is noteworthy that the affected citizen is the breadwinner of a family of four members, the husband, the wife and two male children, as this car washroom was his main source of income through which he supports his family.

According to the field follow-up at the site of the violation, the damaged and targeted washroom is a 200 m² concrete floor, where the victim razed it, and there were plastic bars and brackets that the victim removed, in addition to a metal fence surrounding the washroom.

Citizen Radwan told the Land Research Center’s field researcher the following:

“In the beginning of last April, I rented a plot and leveled it and built a car washroom on it. A few days ago, I received an order for demolition and immediate removal under the pretext of non-licensing, and I proceeded through the official institutions to submit official papers for the licensing and assigned a lawyer to object to the demolition order, but I was informed that the occupation will not cancel the order, so I had to bulldoze the concrete yard, dismantle the beams from the area and remove the equipment. The value of the losses amounted to 45,000 shekels, and I do not know what I will do so far”.

Photos 1-4: The effects of the demolition of the car washroom that the citizen demolished with his own hands.

It should be noted that the village of Al-Nabi Elias is considered one of the most prominent village in Qalqilya governorate in terms of the extent of the Israeli targeting of it, as there are a large number of threatened installations in it, apart from those that were demolished, in addition to the new section of the bypass road known as Road No. 5 “The village was divided into two parts, and the Israeli occupation imposed strict restrictions that prevented construction in the vicinity of the bypass road in any way.

The village of Nabi Elias[1]

The village of Al-Nabi Elias is located to the east of the city of Qalqilya, specifically at a distance of 6 kilometers from the city. It is bordered to the east by the villages of Ezbet Al-Tabib and Asla, to the west by Arab Abu Farda, to the north by the town of Jayyous and to the south by Ras Tirah village. According to the Palestinian census for the year 2017, the population reached 1399, divided into three families: Hanoun, Khalif, and Majd.

The total area of the village is 4,435 dunams, of which 123 dunams are within the structural plan of the village, and there are 2,200 dunams subject to settlement activity represented by the “Alfe Menashe” settlement, in addition to the bypass roads.

[1] GIS – LRC