Yolande KnellMiddle East correspondent, Tulkarm
BBC
Nasser Faratawi’s West Bank property was taken over by the IDF in March
Nasser Faratawi holds up a blackened garland of silicone flowers and a singed Ramadan lantern as he picks through the charred ruins of what was his popular party shop in Tulkarm in the north of the occupied West Bank.
Upstairs, on the three floors of what were his family’s luxury apartments, graffiti is scrawled on the walls – including drawings of penises in a living room and his daughter’s bedroom.
Expensive furniture has been broken or thrown out of the window, fancy decorations ripped out, every page of a Quran torn, and it stinks of rotten leftover food.
“They came and destroyed me,” Nasser tells me. “It’s all seen as destroyable because I live in this city – because I am Palestinian.”
On 3 March, the Israeli military arrived at the Faratawi property and gave the family an hour and a half to leave. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) took over the building while they carried out a huge operation nearby, in Tulkarm refugee camp.
“They took it as an army base and they lived in it for three-and-a-half months, using it like a hotel, and then they set it on fire,” Nasser says, still in disbelief at what happened.
Upstairs in the family’s apartments there is further evidence of damage
Watching from a distance, he says he saw on 11 June that a fire had been started in his warehouse and shop – where locals used to bring their cars to be decorated for weddings.
“It was very hard for me to see my business burning. Everything I had worked for, for over 30 years,” Nasser says. His neighbourhood remained a closed military zone, and he was only allowed to return at the start of this month.
Asked about the state of the property, the Israeli military told the BBC that it was “not aware of any arson committed by its troops at the site”, and that a complaint about the incident “has been submitted and is under review”.
The IDF statement continued: “The destruction of civilian property by soldiers is contrary to IDF values. As a rule, incidents that deviate from IDF orders and values will be examined, investigated, and addressed by commanders.” It did not comment on the lewd graffiti.
Graffiti has been left on the walls of Nasser’s daughter’s bedroom
Since the deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023 triggered the brutal war in the Gaza Strip, world attention has largely been focused there. But tensions have also rocketed in the West Bank, with increased Israeli settler attacks and military operations which Israel says are aimed at Palestinian militants.
The UN says more than 900 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by IDF action and settlers in that period. At the same time, more than 60 Israelis have been killed in reported attacks by Palestinians or in armed clashes in the West Bank and Israel.
During major Israeli operations, Palestinian homes are routinely used as temporary military bases and interrogation centres, with the IDF citing security necessity.
“In order to locate and dismantle terror infrastructures at their root, the IDF is sometimes required to operate from within homes in the area for varying periods of time, according to operational needs and field circumstances,” the Israeli army said.
It says it acts according to international humanitarian law and takes “measures to minimise the impact on civilians as much as possible.”
In the last two weeks of June, during Israel’s war with Iran, the UN’s Humanitarian Office (Ocha) documented Israeli soldiers taking over about 267 Palestinian homes for periods ranging from several hours to a few days. An early estimate suggested more than 1,300 people were affected, who Ocha says “in most cases returned to their homes to find their property vandalised”.
Properties were also taken over at the start of the year in three built-up, urban refugee camps – Jenin, Nur Shams and Tulkarm – when the Israeli army moved in, describing them as “terror strongholds”. In total, about 40,000 residents were forced to leave the camps, around 30,000 of whom have been unable to return.
Bulldozer-mown routes through the buildings of the neighbouring Tulkarm refugee camp can be seen from Nasser’s property
From a balcony on an upper floor, you can easily look across from Nasser’s house to Tulkarm refugee camp. It is like a ghost town with some 10,600 people who lived there still displaced. Israeli bulldozers have created new paths through the camp – breaking it into separate areas.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, estimates that more than 150 houses have been demolished in Tulkarm. Across the West Bank, Ocha says that between the start of Israel’s Operation Iron Wall in January and July there were more than 1,400 demolition orders.
Unrwa now supports refugees staying in private accommodation in and around Tulkarm. It has set up a temporary health centre and schools, and has begun online education for students.
Israel’s defence minister has said the military will stay in the three refugee camps until at least the end of the year.
Nasser previously ran a successful party and event business from this property
While Nasser Faratawi is back in his home, he wonders how he will ever renovate it. He estimates that his total losses are up to $700,000 (£520,000; €600,000). He can complain to Israeli authorities, but past evidence suggests it is highly unlikely he will get any compensation.
The Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank and relies on foreign donors, used to help pay for repairs caused by Israeli military incursions. However, it is currently so cash-strapped that it cannot pay full salaries to public workers.
Without his shop and with his stock destroyed, Nasser has no income and worries that he can no longer support his son and daughter, who have been studying medicine in Egypt. He is appealing for help from international organisations.
“I’m an ordinary person, a businessman,” he says. “I love peace. I never before had a weapon in my house. I had no problem with the Israeli army. I want peace and to live in peace, but they don’t want peace.”
