Secret amendment of Israeli order could cost 300 Palestinians their homes
Two years ago, Israel quietly amended a 2003 directive banning the construction of unauthorized settler outposts to include Palestinian homes and is now working to enforce it.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Around 300 Palestinians in the northern Jordan Valley are anxious about their fate after the Israeli authorities decided to evict them from their homes.
Haaretz reported Nov. 13, “This is the first time the army is using an eviction order against Palestinians based on a military order meant to enable the evacuation of unauthorized settlement outposts." The order in question is known as the “order regarding unauthorized buildings.”
On Nov. 9, the eviction notice, dated Nov. 1, was left near primitive houses in the Ein el-Hilweh and Umm al-Jamal regions, inhabited by their residents since 1967. It ordered their evacuation within days and referenced the residents’ right to appeal within a period not exceeding eight days of the date of issuance.
“Israeli authorities tried to deny the residents this right by giving out the notice nine days after its issuance,” Nabil al-Jamal, a farmer in Umm al-Jamal, told Al-Monitor. “They broke into the area on Nov. 10 and photographed the houses and barns. When they left, we found the notice with a map of Umm al-Jamal and Ein el-Hilweh near one of the houses. By that time, the deadline for raising an objection had elapsed.”
