On Thursday and Friday, 15-16 July, the traveling tent of the
Coalition Against Home Demolitions was in the village of Kuf El Haris, north
of Jerusalem near Nablus. It was set up by the home of the extended Abed-Al
Qader family, located on the edge of the village in an Israeli-controlled
area. (As is usually the case, the Israeli occupation authorities zoned the
main part of the village in Area B, under Palestinian civil administration but
Israeli military control. The outlying parts of the village and the fields,
however, are zoned in Area C, under both Israeli civil and military control).

About half a mile from the village is one of the largest Israeli settlements
on the West Bank, Ariel, with over 15,000 residents, a hotel and swimming
pool. The Christian Right has
several offices in Ariel.

Near the family home the Israelis have cleared a swath of land to construct a
new bypass road for settler use, in the process confiscating some of the
family's land and destroying many olive trees.

The house has been in the family for over 50 years, and as
the family grew they needed to build an addition. Two years ago they started
to enclose an open courtyard to make an extra room. They were told by the
Israeli military authorities that if they did not stop the work the entire
house would be demolished.

The family appealed in court, but their appeal was denied. 26 people now live
in 5 rooms. There are five homes in the
same area that have demolition orders on them, and whose appeals in court were
denied.

One of the brothers in this family, Odei, has his own small
construction-supplies business in a room attached to the house, with the
supplies kept in the yard. Both Palestinian villagers and Israeli settlers buy
construction materials from him. He has an open space in front of his office
that used to be an enclosed room, but the military threatened to demolish that
a year ago, so since then no one has lived in it.

The military has driven by several times in recent days. They warned Odei that
if he did not tear down the outer wall they would do it and send him the bill.
He therefore knocked
down the cinder-block wall himself, hoping that this would satisfy the
Israelis and that they would spare the rest of the house (he had previously
taken off the roof over this area for the same reason).

In addition to fearing the military, one of the family members told me: "we
are afraid... everyone in the village is afraid [of the settlers]." Sometimes
the settlers walk or drive through the village, but unless they are there on
business, no one talks to them, for fear of provoking them -- during the
Intifada the settlers staged a raid on the village and burnt several houses,
and people fear a repeat of this incident.

The family members are very much afraid of possible demolition. They face
being out on the street with nowhere to go. When I stayed with them from
Wednesday through Friday I was conscious of every noise from the street,
wondering if it was the military coming to demolish the home.