The IDF Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria on Tuesday demolished 23 housing structures and three lavatories in two Arab villages out of 12 which have been fighting in court to prevent their eviction. The area had been designated to be used for military training as early as the 1970s, and the Arab dwellers are by and large squatters. The demolition took place one day after the mediations attempt begun in 2013 had officially failed. The IDF was apparently wise to get on with the bulldozer work, seeing as before it was done taking down all 40 condemned structures the St. Eve Catholic human rights NGO filed an appeal with the Israeli Supreme Court.
The army confiscated several vehicles and five solar panels.
All the structures demolished on Tuesday had been built after the start of mediation, in violation of Israeli law. They were made from cement blocks with corrugated roofs, paid for, for the most part, with European Union funding, which is one more example of how the EU is actively violating the law in Judea and Samaria.
In an officially unrelated story, Jewish residents of the Alon Moreh, Yitzhar, Khavat Gilad, and Shilo communities, which are still defined by the Defense Ministry as “illegal outposts,” may be subject to similar destruction, as dozens of homes there have been slated for demolition. According to Hakol Hayehudi, some in the settler community are interpreting the announcement by Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon that he won’t speak at the 13th Jerusalem Conference next week as evidence that he is leery of vociferous criticism against his upcoming demolitions.
Pro-settler Journalist Dudu Saada said he was hoping the defense minister wasn’t planning to take advantage of his absence from the conference “to destroy Eretz Israel.”