Israeli demolition operations last Wednesday destroyed around 70% of the above-ground homes and facilities in Jenba village, in Masafer Yatta, about 20 kilometres south of Hebron, prompting residents to return to the village’s surviving caves. The demolitions included basic homes, water tanks and solar power units, as well as chicken coops, toilets and sheep pens.
Demolitions target the essentials of daily life
Several residents said the demolitions had targeted the most basic necessities of their daily lives and the means of their survival in the area. Maisoon Mohammed said the destruction had affected “every detail of life; nothing is left for us: the washing machine, solar power, the bathroom and chicken room, and the sheep pen”. She added that residents had been living in the open for days and did not know what they would do, with no shelter available for the sheep.
Maisoon reaffirmed her determination to remain, saying: “Nevertheless, we will stay and will not go anywhere else. They demolish and we build.” Anwar Mousa Mohammed, for his part, described life as very difficult after everything was affected by the demolitions. He said he had temporarily moved his sheep to another location until suitable shelter could be prepared, while other residents’ sheep remained in the open under the sun.
Anwar said the demolitions had focused on the essentials of life and survival in an effort to pressure residents and force them to leave. He affirmed the residents’ determination to rebuild what had been destroyed, adding: “They demolished, and we will build again; let them demolish.” Maher Ahmed Issa referred to previous attempts to remove residents from the area through demolitions, the confiscation of sheep and forced displacement, explaining that they had nevertheless insisted on remaining.
He pledged not to leave the place where, he said, his ancestors were born 200 years ago. Nidal Younes, head of the Masafer Yatta village council, said what was happening came “as part of the occupation’s policy of displacing residents by attacking the foundations of their resilience, including animal shelters, water sources and tanks, and solar power units”.
