Civil Administration dismantles, confiscates water pipes in Khirbet Yarza, Jordan Valley

[Jefferson23]

2/23/2015

On 29 January 2015, Civil Administration representatives came to the Khirbet Yarza community in the Jordan Valley with a bulldozer and a truck equipped with a crane. They took apart the water pipes recently laid for the isolated community and confiscated the parts.

Khirbet Yarza is a small shepherding community that lives in the Jordan Valley, east of the Palestinian town of Tubas. Residents claim that their families, which originated from Tubas, have lived at Yarza for many generations. After Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967, the army demolished all the permanent structures in the village but one. Although the residents personally own the land on which the community lives, the military declared it a “firing zone” in 1968.

At present, the community consists of 13 families numbering 72 people, including 37 minors. The residents make a living off shepherding and live in natural caves, in shacks, or in tents. Most of their children stay in Tubas during the week, under the care of several mothers from the community, so that they can attend school. They go home on the weekends and on holidays.

Over the years, the Civil Administration has repeatedly demolished the community’s structures. In the last two years alone, the homes of five families (four tents and a shack) were demolished, some repeatedly after the residents rebuilt them. The Administration also destroyed a well, sheep pens, and storage shacks. The community’s mosque was demolished several times, most recently in 2011.

in full: http://www.btselem.org/planning_and_building/20150223_confiscation_of_yarza_water_system

[azurnoir]

1. is this part of Israel's 'security needs'?

from the article

The expulsion plans pursued by the military and the Civil Administration contravene IHL provisions which prohibit the forcible transfer of protected persons other than for their own safety or for imperative military needs. Although ten families in the Khirbet Yarza community own houses in Tubas, they cannot make a living in the town and their income relies on shepherding at Yarza. The Civil Administration has offered the community members no alternative that would enable them to retain their lifestyle and earn a living.

[Jefferson23]

2. It is primarily a security issue...always is.