Arab al-Kaabneh families in Jericho demand accountability to those who demolished their homes.
Jerusalem24 – Families from Arab al-Kaabneh demanded that President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh be held accountable for those responsible for the demolition of their homes, last Wednesday, near the al-Nuweima camp in the al-Nuweima village, north of Jericho.
Mukhtar of the al-Qurb clan, Muhammad al-Qurb, from Arab al-Kaabneh, said, “We call on President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh to intervene to give us our rights, take care of our demands, and hold accountable those who demolished our homes, without warning, because what happened is an injustice.”
Al-Qurb explained that “the people were camping in the mountains in the summer, and they were surprised, last Wednesday, by members of the National Security who prevented them from entering our homes where we stay in during the winter, in conjunction with bulldozers demolishing our homes with their contents, and the demolition took place without a judicial decision. Or a warning,” noting that what was demolished were 17 houses, in which 110 people live.
Al-Qurb pointed out that the lands on which they build their current homes are government lands with an area of about 30 dunams, which the Ministry of Local Government allowed them to build in in 2002, after the occupation forces demolished a gathering of 35 families of Arab al-Kaabneh in the Mikhmas area, northeast of Jerusalem in 2002.
He noted that the demolition of the families’ homes may be a personal order by one of the officials and the government is not aware of it, “as the families went to the governor of Jericho, Jihad Abu al-Asal,” who denied knowing what happened.
