One of the demolition process stories by Basil Adra
On January 3rd, I opened my phone and the messages rushed in with pictures and voice notes. I put on my shoes, prepared my camera, and set out with my friends. On WhatsApp, people said that four bulldozers had reached Masafer Yatta.
First, we went to look around the entrances to nearby settlements, because the forces always prepare at the settlements before coming to wreak destruction in our villages. In the end, we saw the bulldozers and the army and civil administration forces at the entrance to the settlement of Susiya, which is built on private Palestinian land.
The messages and discussion continued about what they were going to do with the four bulldozers. Everyone is worried at this moment, everyone is asking where they are, what do you expect? They came to our village? In what direction are they standing? Because in Masafer Yatta there are hundreds of demolition orders, and everyone expects that today is the day he will lose his home.
Two large bulldozers entered the village of Ma’in. People started chasing after them. I wanted to reach the demolition site before the forces, because if they arrived before me, they would prevent us from approaching to take pictures. People pointed me to the wrong location about 4 times because they expected the wrong houses due to the density of demolition notices.
The owner of the house where the bulldozers stopped carried the papers and started shouting that he had provided all that was required of him. He called a lawyer. He spoke to the court. They were waiting for the final response from the court. The soldiers surrounded the house and pushed people back, threatening to arrest them. They fired gas bombs to drive people away. A bulldozer driver came down smiling as if it were a holiday for him. I see him and he sees me at every demolition. He started cursing at me with obscene words.
After about half an hour, the decision was made to demolish the house. While the new government has decided to freeze the demolition for the settlers, zero building permits are granted to the Palestinians: in previous governments, 98% of the permit applications for the Palestinians were rejected, but this government has decided that the percentage should be zero.
After the house and the water well were demolished, some children threw stones at the bulldozers to express their anger. Of course, no stone hit any of the bulldozers, because the soldiers rained tear gas and stun grenades on the children and the houses in the area.
The soldiers went out, brought the other two bulldozers, and headed to Sha'ab Al-Botem village. They arrived at the first house, opened the door, took out the family and their furniture, pushed everyone away, and started demolishing the house.
In the same way, they destroyed many houses until two in the afternoon, and all the water tanks next to the houses were hit with a bulldozer. A tank exploded on the ground and water came out of it.
The women and children were standing together, praying and shouting at the soldiers all the time while they watched the destruction.
The forces then continued on to Safi village, where people have built two more tents, after the forces demolished the school twice. They went there and confiscated the two tents. Now the Safi school has been destroyed three times in the last eleven months
.