Demolition order follows notice in August 2025, legal challenge against Israeli measures’They want to uproot us from the farm and remove us from it to clear the way for the chemical factories,’ says farm owner Fayez Awad al-Tanib

More than 500 volunteers dismantled structures at the Palestinian Hakoortna farm in western Tulkarem in three days, more than 40 years after it was established, amid fears of an Israeli demolition before the family obtained a temporary court order freezing the measure pending a hearing.

The farm is near the Israeli separation wall in the northern occupied West Bank, surrounded by Israeli industrial facilities.

For decades, it has been a source of livelihood for the Al-Tanib family, and a site for agriculture, training and student visits.

Short deadline before demolition

Farm owner Fayez Awad al-Tanib told Anadolu that Israeli authorities issued the family an order on Sept. 16 to demolish structures at the farm and gave them a deadline to dismantle them themselves.

“The family was told that if it failed to comply, the Israeli army would carry out the demolition using its machinery and charge the family for the cost,” he said.

The order followed an earlier notice received by the family in August 2025 directing it to halt work on several agricultural structures ahead of their removal.

With assistance from the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center, the family then began legal proceedings to challenge the measures.

“Israeli authorities justified the measures on ‘security grounds’ related to the farm’s proximity to the separation wall and said some structures obstructed visibility, while others had been built without permits,” according to al-Tanib.

The family said the structures covered by the demolition order are not new, with many dating to between 1984 and 1995.

3 days of dismantling before freeze

As the deadline approached, more than 500 volunteers spent three days dismantling greenhouses, agricultural structures, fish ponds, beehives and equipment used for tree cultivation in an effort to save the farm’s contents before demolition machinery arrived.

“The work continued into the evening, while the family emptied fish ponds and moved whatever equipment and structures could be dismantled,” said al-Tanib.

By the time most structures covered by the demolition order had already been taken apart, the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center informed the family that it had obtained a temporary court order suspending the demolition.

“We dismantled everything out of fear of the demolition, and then we received a decision freezing it,” he said.

“The Jerusalem District Court issued the temporary order following an urgent petition filed by the center’s lawyers and scheduled a hearing for Dec. 17,” according to the organization.

The order does not cancel the demolition decision but temporarily suspends the implementation until the court considers the petition.

Farm operating since 1984

Al-Tanib began managing and working the land in 1984 after his father’s death and later developed it with his family into a farm using organic agricultural methods and reducing its reliance on fertilizers and chemicals.

Hakoortna covers around 32 dunams (7.9 acres), or 32,000 square meters, according to al-Tanib.

Around 10 dunams are planted with citrus trees and another 10 dunams with other fruit trees, alongside greenhouses, fish ponds, beehives and other agricultural facilities.

The farm includes a two-story agricultural house, with each floor covering around 120 square meters (1,282 square feet).

During the decades, Hakoortna expanded beyond agricultural production to become a training and agricultural education site.

“Tens of thousands of children had visited the farm, along with university students specializing in agriculture who sometimes spent up to four months a year training there,” said al-Tanib.

Separation wall, industrial facilities

The family said conditions at the farm changed significantly after Israel began constructing the separation wall in 2002, causing it to lose part of its land and face restrictions on access and agricultural work.

Most of the wall’s route runs inside the occupied West Bank rather than along the Green Line separating it from Israel.

Agricultural land isolated by the wall is subject to an Israeli system of permits and gates regulating when landowners can access it.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has documented how the restrictions particularly affected farmers in the northern West Bank, including the Tulkarem governorate, disrupting essential agricultural activities such as plowing, pruning, fertilizing and harvesting.

The International Court of Justice said in a 2004 advisory opinion that Israel’s construction of the wall within the occupied Palestinian territory and its associated regime violated international law. Israel contends that the wall was built for security reasons to prevent attacks.

Hakoortna lies between the separation wall and Israeli industrial facilities. Al-Tanib said repeated measures against the farm threaten his family’s continued presence on the land.

“They want to uproot us from the farm and remove us from it to clear the way for the chemical factories,” he said.

The family attributes environmental damage to the land and crops during the years to nearby factories — allegations it makes based on its experience at the site.

Israeli authorities, according to what the family was told, said the measures concerning the farm are based on security and planning considerations as well as permit-related issues.

Since the beginning of 2026, Israeli authorities have demolished or forced Palestinians to demolish 1,164 structures for lacking Israeli-issued permits, displacing more than 1,500 Palestinians, according to OCHA, which said the permits are nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain.

Israeli authorities carried out 71 demolition operations in August, affecting 155 Palestinian structures, including 61 agricultural structures and 33 used as sources of livelihood, according to the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.

Authorities also issued 44 demolition notices during the month, said the commission.

OCHA said the average number of structures demolished each month in Area C and East Jerusalem since 2024 has been at least double the monthly average recorded during the previous 15 years, indicating an acceleration in demolitions.