On Thursday, June 5th, 2014 Israeli Civil Administration officials arrived in the desert east of Bethlehem together with police and Israeli soldiers during the humanitarian distribution to poor Bedouin families in the village Al Ganoub in the Ar Rashaydeh Community. They confiscated 3 trucks, 10 latrines and 8 water tanks.
The trucks were taken to a police station in the Israeli settlement Gush Etzion. The three drivers were interrogated and then released. But the ICA still kept the latrines, water tanks and the trucks which belong to a local contractor.
18 herding families live in the Al Ganoub Community, all together 170 Palestinians.
Especially for the women, and to ensure hygiene in the area, the latrines represent a minimum humanitarian standard and an important improvement to their living conditions.
The Bedouin population in Area C – which is more than 60 per cent of the West Bank under total Israeli control – are denied the right to even the most basic and essential water supply.
They cannot access water from water systems nor construct or dig wells and cisterns.
Palestinians in the West Bank live under Israeli military rule. ICA, the Israeli Civil Administration is the entity within the military responsible for relations with the civilian Palestinian population.
The Bedouin Community is located close to the Israeli settlement of Asfar. Israeli settlements are illegal according to International Humanitarian Law (IHL).
According to IHL, Israel as the occupying power has a responsibility to protect the civilian population in the area and ensure that they are not denied their rights to water and sanitation.
DCA strongly condemns the Israeli confiscation and questions the “military necessity” of taking away humanitarian assistance for poor people.
DCA is appealing to the Danish Government and to the EU as 3rd states with a responsibility to demand that Israel fulfil its obligations under International Humanitarian Law to ensure that humanitarian assistance can reach people in need. DCA also demands the immediate and unconditional release of all humanitarian equipment, including the trucks confiscated.