Not Knowing What To Expect

24 Dec 2015/ Meta Peace Team, Scott/ Farun

People build a house on their land and then are notified by Israel that it will be demolished.  In some cases they just show up in the middle of the night and demolish it.  Or Israel builds a wall near the town (cutting hundreds of families off from their farms) and then decides that some houses are too close to the wall they built and destroys them.

A few demolished homes

map of home demolition in Farun

I tried to collect the data in the village if Farun, I picked Farun not because the situation us especially bad, but because it was small and easy for me to get to.  It is just an example of life in the West Bank. I thought the village offices would have a complete list.  But I found that the Israeli occupiers do not bother with the legal government, they just go to a home and hand them a demolition order.  The legal government only finds out if the landowner happens ti tell them.

To the best if my knowledge none of these demolitions are collective punishment, some are deemed a security risk (too close t the wall Israel put where they wanted to), some seem to have needed a permit, some don't comply with rules Israel created.  As best I could find out there is no way to tell ahead of time if the house you are building will be demolished. Frequently it seems Israel waits until the house is finished before issuing a demolition order. 

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It is hard to imagine demolishing homes like these

The map has several layer each with a given color pin and a given category of misuse.  All layers may be turned on or off depending on what you want to look at.  In case you can't find the layer side panel:
          red - demolished
          light reddish - demolition orders which have not been carried out yet
          yellow - is denial of use, some times Israel tells a land owner if the stop using a buiding, and don't finish building it or repair it Israel will not demolish it. This saves Israel the bad press of demolitions.
          green - are events like people getting shot which have become part of the culture
          gray - are and marks, these are to help people orientate themselves if they choose to do a self guided tour of Farun.







link to map of house demolitions

A,B, or C

December 3, 2015 | Meta Peace Teams, Phoenix Jones | Occupied Far’un

In September of 1995, the Oslo II  Accord agreements divided the West Bank into 3 sections: A, B, and C (A being Palestinian territory, B being an Israeli controlled area, and C being Israeli territory) in 1995, with the intention that all of the territory be returned to Palestine in 5 years.  It is now 2015 - twenty years later - and not only has the area not been returned to Palestine, but each day more land is being seized by the Occupying Israeli Army. 

Land marked as Area C:  Palestinian land which Palestinians cannot use

Today we visited the city of Far’in, where at least 12 homes are scheduled to be demolished.  During our tour of the city, we passed  a number of homes that have already been demolished.  We also witnessed half-built homes, where the military had halted the construction.  The owners had been told either to cease building or their home would be demolished.

Our guide told us “The military does not warn before you start building, they wait until the house is in the final stages and then they say you can’t build here.”  

While walking along side of the apartheid wall, we came to space where we were completely surrounded by land, with rich soil beneath our feet. “This land can not be used for farming or building,” our guide shared with us.  So the land remains vacant, by order of the Israeli army, with exception to one greenhouse, with only the apartheid wall as it neighbor.  Just beyond the green house is where our guide and his 2 friends had been shot, with their only offense being that they were too close to the apartheid wall.  Our guide was shot in the leg, the scar still visible.  One of his friend was shot in the chest and the bullet traveled to his lungs and the other in the chest and the bullet traveled to his heart. Both of his friends died that day.

Our Guides scar from gunshot wound

A family of  8's house is set for demolition 

I often describe marginalization in terms of a group of  people being in the middle of a sheet of paper with all resources being outside of the margins.  But oppression does not only marginalize in that way, it constructs a maze within the margins, then places that group of people in the middle of the maze, with the resources on the outside of the margins.  Before you can even get to the wall, you must find your way out of the maze in each direction.

Our liberation is bound together, and your solidarity is mandatory!

Anyone wishing to host a presentation on Meta Peace Team members' experience in the West Bank, please contact MetaPeaceTeam@gmail.com or MaryHanna.MPT@gmail.com