URGENT! This will be a rough translation of Daphne Banai’s interim Machsom Watch report from the Jordan Rift: October 2, 2013. A further report from Jordan Rift checkpoints/road blocks will be sent in a few days. Photos will be sent on Saturday.
Those residing in Mikhol in the Jordan Rift have now been exposed to the burning sun for 18 days. The average temperature this month in the region has been 33 degrees (in the shade, I suppose. – Elana) In this situation people must have much water to drink and they must stay in the shade. For years there has not been water, because Israel has taken all the water for the Israeli settlements, and now there is also no shade. on September 16 Israel destroyed all the tents and metal huts of the village of Mikhol. Since then, with threats and deeds, Israel has prevented any humanitarian assistance from reaching Kikhol residents. A decision of the High Court of Justice from September 24, 2013 has forbidden the removal of the residents and also the demolition of their shelters until a decision has been reached in court on these subjects.
But High Court decision is one thing and the state of Israel is another– so that the Israeli army is still preventing any assistance from reaching them. And last night, the cruelty reached a new level. In the middle of the night 30 soldiers arrived and pulled down the nylons of four structures in Kalansua and burnt them to cinders in front of the eyes of the devastated residents.
More than 100 children, elderly, and women have been thrown out to the sun and we remain silent? More than 1000 sheep and goats have no shelter and we remain silent? 12 sheep have already died from sunstroke. Are we waiting until human beings also die?
An ethnic cleansing has occurred in the Jordan Rift. The population is being ejected/thrown out of their homes, not only in Mikhol. But Mikhol is no longer a Bedouin tent camp. It has been an actual village, with stone buildings, with plowed fields, and with cattle since long before 1967! In 1969, as a part of the Alon Plan, the state demolished the village, and since then, the population has been living in tents and has been struggling for their right to live on their land. At that time the state also blocked up their water holes, and since then, the population has been living on 30 liters of water a day which they import in trucks and need to pay for (with or without aid). The minimum according to the World Health Organization is 100 liters per person per day. This time, Israel has gone beyond past limits and has demolished the entire village of ten families averaging ten members each, but that is not all. It strikes out at them again and again in order to force them to leave.
(In spite of the fact that Israel has disobeyed its own High Court decision, you are not likely to find this news reported in the local or international media – TV, radio, newspapers, etc.)
Additional organizations are being approached to join in a large protest. – Elana