Bethlehem -
Ma'an - Ten families in the Jordan Valley were handed home demolition
orders on Sunday and given 24 hours to evacuate their lands.

Most of the homes to be demolished belong to the Daraghmah and Al-Makahmreh
families, who say they have documents proving their ownership of the
land filed with Israel's Land Registry.

The families said they had been issued demolition orders before, however this was the first
time they had been given a 24-hour notice.

A spokesman from the Israeli Civil Administration office said the orders were given because
the homes are in a "fire zone", putting the residents "at risk."

The homes slated for demolition are in Al-Farsieyah in the Tubas
municipality, all in “Area C”, under zoning regulations established
under the Oslo Accords, putting them under Israeli civil and military
control.

Several villages in Tubas have been targeted by home demolition orders in recent days. Six families in the villages of
Al-Hadidiya and Khirbet Humsa were given 10 days to evacuate their land
on 21 June, a move which would see 50 Palestinians homeless and without
their livelihoods.

So far this year, 125 Palestinians have been displaced by home demolitions in “Area C”, which encompasses 60 percent
of the West Bank and is under full Israeli military and administrative
control, according to UN reports.

Palestinians can only build within boundaries specified by the Israeli Civil Administration, the UN
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has noted, an area
that constitutes less than one percent of “Area C”, and much of this is
already built up.

Effectively, "in almost the entirety of the Jordan Valley, Palestinian construction is prohibited,” a UN office
reported in December 2009.

In a recent report, Amnesty International's deputy director, Philip Luther, remarked that
"Demolition and eviction orders do not just destroy people's homes. They
also take away their possessions and their hopes for a secure future,"

Last year, at least 600 Palestinians, half of them children, were made
homeless by home demolition orders, the report said..