Home demolitions in the Tubas region

Matt Horton
August 12, 2002

Al-Fara' camp is located between Nablus and Jenin in the region of Tubas. The camp like other refugee camps is crowded and impoverished. Despite closure and upwards of 65% unemployment, the people in the camp were well organized and in good spirits.

It was difficult to stay in the house of the Al-Ghoul family because they were facing much pain. Their son had blown himself up in an operation on 18 June 2002, 10 days after the middle brother was married. The only steadily employed brother lost his job soon after and now their house is going to be destroyed.

They were living with relatives, but because the camp is already crowded enough, it was a difficult situation. In addition, their house was not yet destroyed so their problem had not yet reached a resolution and the pain of the demolition was being drawn out and the inevitable delayed. They kept a smile on their face, but it would occasionally break and tears would come to their eyes suddenly. One morning the father, a man of over 60 years, broke down crying in front of us. He was a refugee from Haifa in 1948 and now he was a refugee again. His whole life of struggle for his family to live better than him was about to be destroyed.

Our request was to sleep in the house at night and do what we could to save it or at least the neighbors houses when and if the military came. In the day we were basically on vacation. There was no army to be seen, the weather was nice and the land was beautiful. The camp is in the midst of a rural farming area and sits at the head of the Fara' valley. The Fara' valley has its source in a natural spring whichflows into the valley making it green like a small nile river valley. One day we were invited to a house in the valley and walked through orchards of limes and fruit, tomato fields and even a few palm and banana trees.

We also met with people in the UN emergency medical clinic in the camp which serves over 100,000 people from as far away as Jerhico. There is no hospital in the area, and while it is only a 20 minute drive to either Nablus or Jenin hospitals by ambulance, these days it takes about 4 hours due to closure (if the ambulance is allowed to pass the checkpoint).

In the past two weeks, a number of homes have been destroyed in the Tubas region. For the sake of documentation and the get a better sense of what might happen to the Al-Ghoul house, we visited the houses and the families. The following is a report we made about two destroyed houses:

Report on recently demolished homes in the Tubas region
Report Date: Sunday, 11 August 2002

Prepared by: Members of the International Solidarity Movement in Al-Fara' Refugee Camp.

Town of Ak-Kaaba: Masri Home

Ezzeddine Masri was a member of Hamas who made an operation killing himself and 22 israelis at the Sbarro restraunt in West Jerusalem on August 9th 2001. His action was in retaliation to an attack on a Hamas Office in Nablus on August 1, 2001. The public office was exploded by apache missiles. 8 people, 2 Hamas leaders, 4 office staff and 2 children (ages 6 and 8)walking by on the street, were killed.

The Israeli Occupation Forces arrived at the Masri home at 2am on Sunday, August 4th 2002, nearly 1 year after the operation in West Jerusalem. Their force consisted of 2 tanks, 8 jeeps and more than 200 soldiers. The soldiers kicked in the door to the house awaking Ezzeddine's parents and 4 children (each under 4 years). They asked a neighbor to knock on the door of the adjacent house. The Occupation Forces arrested Ezzeddine's father and three brothers. The family had 20 minutes to leave the house and the soldiers asked all of the neighbors to leave the area.

The house was exploded at about 5am. 4 neighboring houses were damaged by pieces of the house and by the concussion from the explosion itself. A large piece of the roof from the house flew over 50 meters, landing on the roof of a neighboring house and smashing a large hole in the roof. Doors were shaken from their frames, a car was destroyed, windows were shattered and there were holes in the exteriors of the neighboring houses. The stable of the Masri house was also completely destroyed leaving 20 sheep dead.

"What is our crime?" Ezzeddine's uncle asked.

The Red cross visited the house and promised a tent which has yet to arrive.

The father and three brothers were released after 4 days of detention in Ofr detention camp, a newly established prison camp that consists of large tents. They were beaten and interrogated. One of the brothers, who showed us marks from beatings and lacerations from handcuffs, estimated that there were about 7000 palestinians held in Ofr currently.

Town of Tubas: Fukha Home
Mazen Fukha, 28, a member of Hamas was arested by the isreali occupation forces on Tuesday, August 6th 2002 under the auspices that he was suspected of helping bombers. His family has not been in contact with him and does not know where he is being held until the date of this report.

36 hours after Mazen was arrested, 4am on Thursday, 8th August 2002, the Israeli Occupation Forces came to the Fukha Home, owned by Mazen's father. They arrived with 16 jeeps and more than 200 soldiers. They told the 9 people in the house (Mazen's father, mother, sister, wife, brother and 4 children) to exit the house immediately. The people refused because some of the women were without proper clothes. The soldiers entered the house and told the family that they had 20 minutes to leave the house.

As they tried to save some things from the house, neighbors offered to help, but were scared away by shots fired in the air. Both Mazen's father, Muhammad Sulieman, and his 18 year old brother, Ma'an, were arrested. The women of the family and many of the neighbors were told to go to the municipality building 500 meters up the road.

At 5:45 am, the army exploded the house with dynamite. Rubble from the house landed hundreds of yards from the house. All of the glass in the neighbors houses shattered and many of their door frames were broken from the blast.

Some neighbors were still in their homes and a man who did not understand what was happening approached the house after the soldier had left. He was knocked to the ground by the blast but did not sustain serious injuries.

The family was surprised by the operation because their son has not even had a trial following his arrest. He has not been convicted of anything let alone his entire family.

Mazens mother said: "I was born here and my grandfather and his grandfather. Why do the people from Europe and Russia have the right to live here and we do not? How does someone from Russia have the right to explode my house?"

The Red Cross visited the house and gave the family a small tent. The family does not know where either Mazen, his father, or his brother are being held.

Witnessed By:

Colm Breathnach, Dublin, Ireland 067-457-289
Matt Horton, Los Angeles, USA 067-349-442
David Jarmula, Brooklyn, USA 067-378-642

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To read more personal accounts of activists in Palestine, please see our website:
www.palsolidarity.org

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Vredessite | Palestina alert 2002 Ooggetuigen