By Jamil Dababat
IBZIK, TOUBAS, Wednesday, December 26, 2018 (WAFA) –Hayel Turkoman was still young when he first experienced being forced out of his home in this mountainous village north of Toubas in the West Bank so that the Israeli army can carry out military exercises. It was 1994.
Twenty four years later, Turkoman still has to leave his home for the same reason but this time he has to take with him his wife and eight children, the youngest year-and-half years old and the oldest 17. The entire family leaves its home and wonders around the rugged terrain seeking new shelter for the few days it have to wait until the army allows them to return home after ending its exercises.
The Turkoman family, which lives in the north of the West Bank, had experienced displacement and eviction before, specifically in 1948 when the Zionist gangs forced it out of its village, called al-Ghabieh, near the northern port city of Haifa.
At the time, it was Hayel‘s grandparents and parents, who were still young and had to experience the first ever displacement and dispossession that continues until today but experienced by their children and grandchildren.
On this morning, Wednesday, Turkoman and 13 other families received a military order to leave their homes in Khirbet Ibzik for 24 hours.
The families walked in two rows on a dirt road accompanied by Israeli patrols to make sure the area was evacuated.
"This is the third time we are kicked out of our homes this month,” Turkoman told WAFA.
The families look at the months of December and January as the most difficult to have to leave their homes due to severe winter weather conditions. It was possible to see few kilometers away many families walking away from their homes.
"There is no place for us now," said Turkoman.
Little children were seen clutching the dresses of their mothers as they walked away.
It was not clear how far the families had to walk after it was not possible to see them anymore after they have disappeared behind the mountains to the west of their homes.
The Israeli army sent several vehicles through the fields behind the displaced families to make sure the area was evacuated.
"They came four days ago and told us to leave our homes," Turkoman said after his family had evacuated its home. "We did not take anything with us."
Dozens of armored vehicles, tanks and artillery were seen around their homes. Hundreds of soldiers were also seen marching in the fields nearby.
High-ranking military men were seen studying maps of the territory where the military exercises were taking place.
The roar of Israeli tanks could be heard almost everywhere as they crossed through plains planted with wheat. The area destroyed due to military exercise in the past few days is estimated at about 500 dunums, said the residents.
Over the past two years, the Israeli army has evacuated more than 100 families in these mountainous areas.
"This means a lot of elderly people and children are forced to leave on foot," said Arif Daraghmeh, a rights activist working in the area. "Some of them need medicine and others need vehicles to transport them."
No vehicles were seen transporting the families. Residents said the army has confiscated their vehicles, including Turkoman’s tractor and then they have to pay large amount of money to recover their tractors.
"The army remained behind us until we got out of the area and to make sure we do not return," Turkoman said.
B‘Tselem, an Israeli rights organization that monitors the army‘s military activities in the Palestinian territories, said that according to the orders, families must leave their homes four times on December 16, 23, 26 and 31 at 12 noon and not return until 6 the next morning, which means they have to spend the night in the open fields.
“Military training in the area is part of a long standing Israeli policy designed to force out Palestinian communities,” said B’Tselem, summing up the real reason behind the Israeli military exercises in areas where only Palestinians live, but not Israeli settlers.
M.K.
