It was a dark and stormy night in the village of Tha’lah. Israeli “civil administration” officials arrive at the hut of a local shepherd, ordering the entire family to vacate their house within one minute.

But wait, the owner has official documentation from the Israeli High Court of Justice, an interim order requiring the civil administration to halt the demolition. The officer from the decidedly uncivil Administration tore up the court order, and slapped the home’s owner across the face. Within moments, the house was demolished, the water cisterns sealed. Even the sheep pen was bulldozed, several sheep dying in the process.

It is just one of several reports coming out of a complaint filed by Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR) about the Civil Administration. Indeed, had the RHR not intervened with the State Prosecutor’s Office, they say the administration was planning to bulldoze the entire village, despite the court order.

With the destruction of Tha’lah stopped, at least for today, RHR warns that the Civil Administration is planning to move against several energy producing windmills and solar panels set up by Community, Energy and Technology in the Middle East. The facilities provide energy for some 1,500 Palestinians in the area, and Israel is imposing a “work stoppage order” aimed at ending all energy production in the area. The German government, which financed the windmills, has been pressing Israel to reverse the order. So far it doesn’t appear to be making much progress.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Israeli flag hangs off a pole in front of two foundations of temporary homes demolished by the Israeli authorities last year in the unauthorized Jewish outpost of Migron, near the West Bank city of Ramallah February 8, 2012.

Source: Agencies