Israel: LAW urges immediate intervention against house demolition

23 March 1998

Yesterday, 22 March, 10 military vehicles with soldiers, police and
officials from the Israeli military authorities arrived at the al
Attrash family tent, where they have been living since their house was
demolished on 3 March.  Without showing a court order or stating their
purpose, they confiscated building equipment and arrested Zuhur and
Yussef Attrash, the homeowners, and two of their children, aged 17 and
18.  The arrest of the parents left 8 other children, including a child
of two, unattended in the family's tent.

The soldiers arrived early in the afternoon, presumably to confiscate a
cement mixer that the family was using to rebuild their destroyed home. 
The soldiers failed to present written orders or give a verbal
explanation of their presence.  The family went into a panic as a
result, having just lived through the destruction of their home just
three weeks before.  According to an Israeli journalist who was
eyewitness to the event, Zuhur al Attrash put herself on the hood of one
of the jeeps to halt its movement.  This was enough for the soldiers to
begin beating her, ripping her clothing and exposing her skin.  When her
husband and two of the children tried to intervene, they too were
brutally beaten and arrested.  They were handcuffed with their hands
behind their back, dragged along the ground around 200 meters, left
lying on their stomachs for about 15 minutes before they were thrown
into the police jeep and taken to the police station at the nearby
Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba.  The journalist stated that excessive
violence was used against the family members.  

The mother and daughter were detained until 9:00 pm, but the father and
his son will remain incarcerated for another four days.  The family
refused to sign a statement to desist from rebuilding their home.

The family had lived in their home since 1995 (it was begun in 1992),
and has lived on this land since the Ottoman period.  Their home lies on
the borders with the Hebron municipality but just inside the
Israeli-controlled Area C.  While this family was unable to obtain a
building permit to built on their ancestral lands, not two kilometers
away lies the illegal Jewish settlement of Beit Haggai, which faces no
similar restrictions to build and expand the settlement.

The al Attrash family has stated their resolution to continue to rebuild
their home.  With such a large family, they literally have no place else
to provide a home for their 10 children.  LAW calls for immediate
international intervention in this case, to prevent a second demolition
of the al Attrash family home and for the release of Yussuf al Attrash
and his son, and against the ongoing house demolition policy which
serves to remove a Palestinian presence from areas over which the
Israeli authorities wish to maintain control.  Fax or email your protest
immediately to: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu (972) (2) 566 4838,
Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Benyamin Netanyahu (972) (2) 530
3506, Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai (972) (3) 691 6940, the
Department of Building and Planning for the Israeli Military Authorities
of the West Bank (972) (2) 997 7307.  Electronic mail to: Prime Minister
Benyamin Netanyahu: pm@pmo.gov.il, the Office of the Prime Minister:
feedback@pmo.gov.il, the Israeli Government Press Office:
gpo@pmo.gov.il, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
ask@israel-info.gov.il.

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