On Thursday, January 19, ICAHD (AG-G) was present at Khallet Zacharia, to investigate the plight of this Palestinian village, marooned inside a triangle of Israeli settlements (Alon Shvut, Rosh Tzurim, and Kfar Etzion, with Bat Ayin also nearby), which had received multiple demolition orders. The village has a total of 70 families, i.e. 300 people, living in it, most of whom belong to an extended hamula, and it is spread out over three sites, one near Alon Shvut’s school, one by Road No. 60, and one reached by an access road through Alon Shvut.



The lawyer retained by the village is with the Society of St. Yves, Catholic Human Rights Legal Aid Centre of Bethlehem (02-274 7603).



In December, 11 demolition orders were received, as was a stop work order on the uncompleted school which the village has been building. The three village wells also have outstanding demolition orders on them. As does the donkey “shed” (see photo below).

The village has experienced serious problems during Closure, since the children could not get to school; otherwise it is an extremely independent and self-supporting community, living largely off agriculture, including herds of goats, sheep and cows, which produce milk, cheese and meat products. Bread is locally made; the animals are given feed and remain in sheds, as most village land has been absorbed by settlements, so no natural pasture is available. The village receives no food aid, and most villagers are farmers. Under “normal” circumstances, when there is no closure, the village buys its supplies in nearby Al Khader. There have been no specific problems from settlers, but police visit the village around the clock, carrying out general observation. Until now, the children have all gone to Beit Fagar school (12 children), with 26 children (1st – 6th grade) recently attending the village’s school. That school is part of the crisis now faced.



“We just want to live like other human beings,” said one of the villagers we met. “These people have a request from the Israeli state (which supports democracy and human rights). To have a house to live in. We aren’t asking for much, we aren’t asking to be equal to Israelis. Just a home to live in.” According to villagers, if the 11 homes are demolished, they have no alternative place to go.

The village is in Area C, and therefore the Civil Administration (the IDF) is the local authority, with nothing that can be achieved by the Palestinian Authority, although it does supply the school’s four teachers) because Area C falls under Israeli security and administrative control. All Area C is zoned as agricultural land, and therefore no building permits are ever given. All West Bank settlements (except Hebron’s H2 Old City compounds) are situated on Area C.



In 2003, during the al-Aqsa Intifada, Closure prevented the children from reaching their school, so the villagers rented two rooms in order to teach them there. A collection was made amongst those whose children were involved, and a decision was made to build a school. The Planning Office of the DCL issued a Stop Work Order on this building, so the villagers stopped it. They appealed to Gush Etzion DCL, inviting the army to come and see why they had started building the school. A Druze officer (Azhar) came to the village, and promised to help them, but apparently did nothing. In September 2005, there was an extended general Closure of many weeks because of the Israeli high holydays, so prior to the beginning of the new school year a decision was made to continue building the school and it was indeed almost finished (costing some 160,000 shekels -- $35,000), when the army confiscated all the workers’ tools, while recording the ID numbers of all five workers building it, some of whom were not local villagers. When this happened the children were actually in the school, in class. The DCL officer (Nir Cohen) told villagers they could complain in Court, but they chose not to make a fuss. The villagers tried to explain that it was too dangerous for small children to cross the dangerous road, and it was too far for them from Beit Fagar. They said to the army officer that the school was a humanitarian issue, not touching the security of the State of Israel. (It should be noted that from the village windows can be seen a huge school building in Alon Shvut, a swimming pool part of its compound. Alon Shvut is built on Artas village land.) The workmen were each fined NIS1,000 but a lawyer acquaintance advised them not to pay, as that would be interpreted as an admission of guilt. So none paid. The file is still open, despite the villagers having asked the Civil Administration to send a letter to the police to close the file because without closing it those five men are liable to be stopped on security grounds at every checkpoint.

After two months, the police detained one of the five workmen, a taxi-driver (who lives in Tarqumia) at the Idna Junction, and took him for questioning to Kiryat Arba police station. He was told an investigation was being carried out as to building without a permit in Zacharia village. He telephoned the village, and one of the villagers spoke with the police, stating that the man being held was simply a volunteer builder at the village, not responsible for the project, and so that worker was released, on the understanding that the villager in charge must go to the Kfar Etzion police station. The police reported that Nir Cohen had gone to court, accusing them of building illegally. The school has four rooms, is nearly completed and only some wall painting and final work on the toilets and kitchen remain outstanding.

In December 2005 nine demolition orders on village houses were received for the part of the village where there is a total of 35 homes (two had been received eighteen months previously). It should be mentioned that over fifteen of the houses are extremely ancient; the village also has many caves in its precincts, as well as the ancient tomb of Zacharia and its adjoining mosque (which has an unfinished minaret, as villagers were prevented by the Israeli authorities from building a minaret). In the past, the IDF has demolished some of the caves. The villagers have the tabu deeds for their land, which date to Ottoman days.

The village also has an ongoing land case outstanding, which Adv. Mohammed Dahle is conducting on their behalf; 705 dunams of village land on the other side of the road are in dispute, being absorbed by all the Gush Etzion settlements in that area, and with an accusation that 73 dunams was sold, which the villagers deny.

The Wall as planned will isolate this village inside the settlement area of the Etzion Bloc, and presumably cut off the villagers from their source of supplies and any other outside life.



Further details, including village contacts and photographs, please contact ICAHD:

Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, Action Advocacy Officer

02-672-8771 or 0547-366393.