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Thursday
Oct182012

Israel uses UK-made JCB digger to demolish Palestinian home in south Hebron hills

Submitted by Adri Nieuwhof on Thu, 18 October 2012 - 09:55    The Electronic Intifada

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x_zujhQSGo&feature=player_embedded

A British-manufactured JCB digger was used to demolish a Palestinian home in Lasefer in the south Hebron hills this week. This video footage shows that the demolition was executed under heavy protection by armed Israeli forces.

The Palestinian families can do little but watch the demolition of the home, including very young children. In the background one can hear the sound of women crying at the loss.

The video is dated 16 October and was uploaded to YouTube yesterday. The filmmaker sent me the link today.

Israel’s use of JCB equipment to demolish Palestinian property has been documented on several occasions leading to protest actions by UK anti-poverty charity War on Want.

Palestinians in Lasefer under attack

The villagers of the Palestinian community of Lasefer have been subjected to such violent attacks and destruction before.

In 2006, the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem quoted a report by WAFA, the Palestinian News and Information Agency, that “Israeli settlers of La Sefer east of Yatta town south of Hebron city destroyed the tents and barracks owned by Ibrahim Abu Qbeita, causing severe damages to the properties.”

One year later, David Schulman wrote about Lasefer in Occupation Magazine,

The other group, which I join, heads for the Abu Kbeita fields on the slopes under a small khirbeh called Lasefer. This is another long and tortuous story. We are close to the Green Line—and, indeed, the main checkpoint on the road, recently privatized, is several kilometers north of the border, as if Palestinian lands lying to the south had already been annexed to Israel.

[The Abu Kbeita’s] have to deal with a settler, Danny, who claims that the Abu Kbeita fields, leased from the original owner, Hawamdi, in Samu`a, belong to him. He is wrong: the case went to the Supreme Court, which decided in 1991 in favor of the Palestinians. None of this has stopped the settlers, including those from Beit Yatir just across the main road, from trying to drive Mahmud Abu Kbeita and his three brothers off the land. These settlers, like so many others in south Hebron, are often violent; they have stoned the Abu Kbeitas when they felt like it, broken the arm of Osama, one of Mahmud`s sons, and even penetrated into the family house in al-Aseifar where, according to some testimonies, they drove a large knife or other weapon right through the wall.

 

Demolition of a Palestinian home in Lasefer, south Hebron Hills on 16 October (still from video)

In February, British anti-poverty charity War on Want condemned the use of JCB equipment after Israel used its machinery to destroy the only children’s playground in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem.

Greg Muttitt, campaigns and policy director at War on Want, said: “It is unacceptable that a British company like JCB should profit from human rights violations. Unless the firm takes immediate action to scrutinize Israel’s use of its equipment, JCB will appear complicit in the attacks on children and communities.”

Meanwhile, Israel continues to use JCB equipment to destroy Palestinian property built on Israeli-occupied Palestinian land.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stop the bulldozers, Act now: end JCB's complicity in Israel's destruction of Palestinian communities

British charity War on Want has launched the Stop the Bulldozers-campaign aiming to end British firm JCB’s complicity in Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people.

UK charity condemns JCB over demolition of Jerusalem playground

War on Want condemns British company JCB after Israel used the company’s machines to destroy the only playground in the Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem. Meanwhile, a JCB bulldozer was used in the demolition of Palestinian property in the occupied south Hebron hills on 15 February.

Israeli forces destroy "the only place for children in Silwan"

JOSIE SHIELDS-STROMSNESS
East Jerusalem
15 February 2012
Israeli bulldozers demolished the only community center and refuge for Palestinian children in the Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem.

Video shows UK-manufactured JCB equipment destroying Jerusalem playground

Under heavy police protection, Israel demolished a Palestinian community center and a children’s playground in occupied East Jerusalem on 13 February 2012.

Israel closes organizations, destroys dwellings in campaign against Palestinian life in East Jerusalem

Israeli police shut down two Palestinian organizations in the Silwan neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday and destroyed dwellings in the Beit Hanina and Shufat neighborhoods of the city.

Volvo misses the mark on responsibility for the protection of human rights

Volvo Group refuses once again to take action against the use of its equipment in the demolition of Palestinian homes by Israel. Multinational enterprises have a responsibility to protect human rights.

Eviction stalled in East Jerusalem; family awaits new hearing

NADIA WALID SOMREIN
Silwan
9 December 2011
The postponement of an Israeli eviction order in East Jerusalem has spared the Somrein family from being made homeless — for the time being.

Private security guards kill with impunity in East Jerusalem

JILLIAN KESTLER-D'AMOURS
Silwan
28 November 2011
According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, 350 private Israeli security guards are currently employed in East Jerusalem by private security firm Modi’in Ezrahi, which is subcontracted by the Israeli Ministry of Housing and Construction, to protect 2,000 settlers living illegally in the occupied territory.

Family of 12 faces eviction in East Jerusalem

NADIA WALID SOMREIN
Silwan
23 November 2011
Despite living in his home for nearly fifty years, and despite the fact there are legal documents clearly stating that the land is owned by the Somrein family, Mohammed Somrein’s land has been declared absentee property and thus subject to confiscation.

Israel's vandalism of Palestinian heritage

ABE HAYEEM
7 November 2011
Amongst the fallout of Palestine’s admission as a member state, Israel’s warning that it “will now reconsider its cooperation with UNESCO” is the biggest irony.

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