• Violation: bulldozed lands and uprooting olive saplings.
• Violation date: 09/08/2022.
• Location: Khallet Salama – Tarqumiya town / Hebron governorate.
• The aggressor: the so-called civil administration of the occupation.
• Victims: Sons of Muhammad Salama Al-Owaiwi.

The details: 

On Tuesday, August 9, 2022, the Israeli occupation authorities bulldozed a piece of land, demolished stone chains and walls, and uprooted trees, in Tarqumiya town, west of Hebron Governorate.

At approximately nine in the morning, a large force of the occupation army and the so-called Civil Administration, accompanied by two bulldozers (continuous tracks) and another bulldozer, stormed the Khallet Salameh area east of the town; They headed to the Khallet Salameh area and arrived at a plot of land owned by brothers from the Al-Owaiwi family in the town of Tarqumiya.

After the occupation authorities and their machineries arrived at the site, they began razing the stone chains (terraces) and uprooting olive saplings from the plot.

Photos 1-5: Effects of the bulldozing of lands and uprooting olive trees

Citizen Ahmed Muhammad Salama Al-Owaiwi (45 years old) told the filed researcher at the Land Research Center the following:

“We are 5 brothers who own a plot of land in the Khallet Salameh area, with an area of ​​15 dunums. About five years ago, we reclaimed it and rehabilitated it for cultivation. We also moved about a hundred dirt trucks to the site, and built stone chains topped with a fence of barbed wire around the plot, then planted it with seedlings. We used to water the olives by buying tankers and transporting them to the site”.

He added:

“We found a notification from the occupation authorities, it is fixed under a stone on one of the chains, and it was issued on 7/6/2022. An aerial photo is attached to it, showing the plot of land that we reclaimed, and the occupation authorities are asking us to vacate the plot, uproot the saplings, demolish the stone chains, and return the land to its previous condition, under the pretext that it is confiscated and classified as state land”.

Eviction Notice No. 1061 and the map attached to it

Al-Owaiwi indicated that they prepared a legal objection file and engineering plans, brought documents to prove their ownership of their lands, and hired a lawyer to object to the occupation’s notification, but the occupation authorities struck all the ownership papers and all the money they the citizens lost in reclaiming their land, and destroyed the entire plot of land.

The occupation authorities uprooted about 350 olive saplings that are 5 years old, and demolished the stone chains and the surrounding walls, which are about 500 meters long. It also swept away the soil and buried the olive saplings that had been uprooted.

Al-Owaiwi explained that the reclamation process was carried out at their own expense, and that they had incurred losses of about (70,000 dollars) in the fees for transporting dirt, building stone chains and walls, in addition to the wages of workers.

The income and fruits of this plot were to be benefited by 5 siblings who support a total family number of (26 people), and they are:

Number	Name	Total family number	Number of children	Number of females
1	Ahmed Mohamed Salama Al-Owaiwi	7	5	3
2	Ali Muhammad Salama Al-Owaiwi	4	2	1
3	Raed Muhammad Salama Al-Owaiwi	6	2	3
4	Wael Muhammad Salama Al-Owaiwi	6	4	3
5	Salama Muhammad Salama Al-Owaiwi	3	1	1

 

It should be noted that the settlement of “Tilm” is located about (500m) to the east of the lands of the citizens that were bulldozed. The settlement is witnessing expansion and road construction in its vicinity, to seize vast areas of the Palestinian citizens’ lands.

 Tarqumiya town[1]:

The village of Tarqumiya is located 10 km from the western side of Hebron city. It is bordered to the north by the villages of Beit Ula and Beit Kahil, to the west by the village of Idna, to the east by Hebron and Taffouh, and to the south by the village of Taffouh and Dura.

Its population is 19,311 as of 2017. The total area of ​​the village is 22,106 dunums, of which 2,117 dunums are the built-up area.

The Israeli settlements looted 948 dunums to serve the settlements, so the “Adora” settlement confiscated 442 dunums and is inhabited by 191 settlers, which it was established in 1982.

As for the settlement of “Tilm” it has confiscated 506 dunums of the lands of the village and inhabited by 127 settlers. It was established in 1981.

The village lands are classified according to the Oslo Accords into areas (B and C), where they constitute areas B (37%), while the areas classified as C constitute the largest area and is under the full control of the Israeli occupation, which constitutes (63%) of it, below we explain the areas in dunums:

• Areas classified as B (8,186) dunums.

• Areas classified as C (13,920) dunums.

[1] GIS – LRC.

 

Prepared by
 The Land Research Center
LRC