Border Police destroy Jewish family home in the West Bank

In a surprise move, security forces arrived at the Tapuah West outpost to remove three structures, including the home of a family with nine children.

The stucco house is located on the remnants of a small hilltop community in the Samaria region of the West Bank that was destroyed last year.

That demolition was the direct result of a High Court of Justice ruling in response to a petition from the left-wing NGO Yesh Din.

Tapuah West resident Moshe Herzlich said that there was no such court order for his home, which the Civil Administration said was put up after last year’s evacuation.

Herzlich, a 20-year outpost resident, said he had not been served with any demolition order for the structure. It was built as part of a relocation move to an area with within a master plan for the community, he said.

“They don’t treat terrorists this way,” said Herzlich who was surprised to find the security forces at his door Tuesday morning.

To his question about a demolition order, he was told that one had been faxed to him.

“I don’t own a fax,” he said.

“This is a diplomatic decision [made by the upper echelon], it has nothing to do with the court,” Herzlich said as he called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt the demolition.

“There is no court order here, if someone has one I am willing to give him a million dollars,” Herzlich. He added that he had no legal recourse by which to halt the demolition.

“What you are seeing here is the demolition of a home, not because of the High Court, not because of the status of the land, but because internal politics of the settlement movement,” said Herzlich. “The demolition order was signed, apparently by Deputy Defense Minister Eli Dahan. He is the only one who can sign,” Herzlich said.

This is an absurd situation where Netanyahu, who is also the Defense Minister, has to order someone known as a settler supporter, Dahan, not to demolish a home in Judea and Samaria, Herzlich said.

As Border Police were stripping his home of windows, he spoke with reporters by phone and on video. He also posted a video on his Facebook page of soldiers in his house.

During his election campaign, Netanyahu promised not to uproot any settler homes.

Samaria Regional Council head on Sunday called on Netanyahu to halt the demolition, explaining that such actions were not worthy of a right-wing government.

The national-right wing government that is now being created must reconsider its policies on this matter… and abandon the path of evacuation and destruction,” Dagan said.

Samaria Regional Council member David Ha’ivri, who lives in the adjoining Tapuah settlement, said that some 500 border police officers had arrived at Tapuah West on at least six buses and some 20 vans, accompanied by several bulldozers.

He said that the “family, who has lived there for the past 20 years, built a new home on land that they were led believe was OK. That is now being demolished.”

The area was also cordoned off to stop supporters and demonstrators from entering.

The Civil Administration said the home was illegally built and that stop work and demolition orders had been issued against it.

Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report

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