Impact of Separation Wall on Pal

The village of Faro'un is located 5 km to the south of the city of Tulkarem. It has the population of 3000 people.

The total village area is 8000 dunum, half of which was confiscated or separated by the construction of the Israeli Separation Wall. The village built up area is only 360 dunum.

1. The demolition of two houses owned by Mr. Jawad Rashad Hasan Isa and Mr. Wa'il Subhi Mohammed Adwan under the pretext of proximity to the Separation Wall. The demolitions took place on January 22^nd, 2004;

2. The distribution of orders to halt construction in another ten houses ( some of them already inhabited) located in the western and southern part of the village. The orders asked the following house owners to show up at Beit Eil court on March 3^rd, 2004:

Name	ID No.	No. of fam. Members	Inhabited/ uninhabited	Stage of construction
Husam Salim Asi	964745285	2	Inhabited	One floor house / completed
Bassam Salim Suleiman	964745202	3	Inhabited	Two floor house/ first floor completed
Farid Abdul Jabar Farkh	964745343	5	uninhabited	One floor house/ unroofed
Mahmud Abdallah Farkh	934730748	4	uninhabited	One floor house/ unroofed
Othman Zaki Farahat	934746066	6	Uninhabited	Two floor house/ first floor unroofed
Riad Isma'il Omer	949612188	7	Uninhabited	Two floor house/ first floor unroofed
Mufeed Kamel Budeir	934731654	6	Uninhabited	Two floor house/ under final stage of finishing
Muneer Abdallah Omer	934745456	7	Inhabited	Two floor house/ completed
Shaker Mahmud Budeir	901234880	5	Uninhabited	Two floor house/ first floor un roofed
Imad Suleiman Hazahza	900428004	4	Inhabited	Two floor house/ ground floor completed/ first floor under final stage of finishing
Total		49

The threatened houses are located in a public use area which was owned by the village council and sold in 1996 to the public as a built up area. The area is called ( Al Masha' Al Gharbi ) or the western public area. The total area of this location is 100 dunum and the village council obtains all the required ownership documents including taboo. So far, about 150 pieces have been sold and houses built upon by approvals from the village council. Two of the houses have been demolished and others are waiting demolition. Although the houses were built before the establishment of the Separation Wall, the Israeli authorities claim that the main reason behind these demolitions is the proximity of these houses from the Wall ( between 0.5 to 100 meter).

It is worth mentioning that this area has become a new residential quarter of the village provided with necessary infrastructure such as water, electricity, roads and telephone.

In a previous report by LRC under the title of " The Israeli army sets up a separation wall and military garrison on the land of Faro’un village/ Tulkarem governorate " published in September, 2003, the house of Mr. Jawad Rashad Hasan Isa – see picture below- was mentioned as one of the houses threatened with demolition. Now, it has been demolished because the wall was built only half meter from it.

In an interview with LRC field worker, Mr. Othman Zaki Mohammed Arafat, 33 years old and resident of Al Masha' Al Gharbiquarter whose house is under threat of demolition, said the following:

" I bought a plot of land from the village council in this area, and I built a house on it like many other people from the village. I used to live in one room in my family house with my wife and six children. I got the house built in four years and I moved to settle in it in the year 2001. Starting in the year 2002, the Israeli authorities began to build the Wall on Palestinian land in the area and since then we started to feel the danger coming. After wards, a number of demolition orders were circulated and two houses were actually destroyed. If the Israelis destroy my house I will be psychologically and financially destroyed as I have very limited resources and it is impossible for me to buy another piece of land and start building another house. We already spent all our earnings and sold my wife's jewelry to buy the land and build the house we live in now".