After warning them of the demolition, the occupation takes refuge in the caves in the south of Hebron

Awad Rajoub-Al-Maqsara (Southern Hebron)

In small rooms of concrete covered by tin (zinco) provided by the European Union, the Palestinian family of Umm Mufeed and her two-child family of 14 live in adjacent caves, the scene of detail of life is complete where hundreds live in caves made of fabric or iron sheets.

"Here in Khirbet Al-Maqzara, nothing on the ground is free of notification of demolition," added Mufeed, adding that Barakat and the tents of her family had been destroyed by the Israeli occupation several times ... even the mosque and the electricity generator room were demolished years ago.

The occupation uses military demolition orders as a weapon to confront the Palestinian population expansion, under the pretext of building without a license in Area C, which is under full Israeli control.

Mysterious future
Next to his mother, Muhammad Qasim, 18, stands in front of a room with a banner hung on the slogans and names of the European Union funded entities. On his face, signs of confusion from a mysterious future say that he will not settle until the occupation ends.

Muhammad is currently working with his family to raise livestock, and hopefully, his dream is that he can build a room or tent to marry, but a new Israeli decision threatens this dream, which may force him to share a cave with his family.

A few days ago, the Israeli Minister of Defense, Naftali Bennett, told the European ambassadors that Tel Aviv would demolish the "illegal" Palestinian buildings in the C-rated areas, and all of them were funded by the European Union.

During his meeting with the ambassadors, Bennett said that if European countries wanted to help the Palestinians, "it is better to focus on humanitarian activities rather than illegal construction."

Return to the caves
Dozens of meters away from the house of Muhammad, Haji Mahmoud Hussein Hamamda, the deputy head of the local council, sits on the remains of a house demolished by the occupation weeks ago, and he regrets the failure of the superpowers to protect the primitive homes they built for the Palestinians, in reference to the European Union.

Nevertheless, Hamamda says that he was born in this region before the occupation came, and will remain in it and live in its caves if the occupation carries out its threats to destroy Khirbet.

Not far from Mahmoud Hussein's house, Fadel Hamamda, his two wives and children live in a cave and small rooms built of concrete and covered in zinco, sitting in an unobstructed bathroom thinking about the future of his family.

According to Muhammad Rubai, the head of the Al-Tuwanah Local Council and the Palestinian communities in the south of Hebron, about 1,200 people live in caves or structures that threaten to be demolished in classified areas (C).

He indicated that the European Union is the most present and the main supporter of these gatherings by building temporary housing, tents and water networks that served 3,500 people.

Despite the tight situation for the residents of these areas and the limited income - say quarterly - dozens of them graduated from universities without finding work, considering providing job opportunities for them as the most effective way to enhance their steadfastness and the steadfastness of their families.

European insistence
For its part, the European Union hopes that Israel will respect the humanitarian and development projects it finances in areas classified as Area C and refrain from demolishing the facilities it is building.

Shadi Othman, a spokesman for the Federation in the Palestinian Territories, said that the humanitarian support provided by the union is in line with international humanitarian law, stressing the union's firm position that areas (C) are part of the occupied Palestinian territory and without it there will not be an independent and geographically continuous state.

He stressed - in his speech to Al Jazeera Net - that the union does not recognize any annexation of any part of Area C, but rather opposes settlement expansion in it, and calls on Israel to permanently stop the policy of land confiscation and deportation.

Othman pointed out that the federation is helping to provide structural plans for more than a hundred locations in the West Bank, suggesting that development projects could start in cooperation with the Palestinian Authority.

He also mentioned that during the past three years the Union spent about twenty million Euros in Area C.

670 thousand Palestinians in Area C
According to the data of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Authority in the Palestinian Authority, 670,000 Palestinians live in areas classified as Area C of 3458 square kilometers of the total land area of ​​the West Bank, which is 5664 km.

According to the same source, 370 demolition notices issued by the occupation to installations in Area C, some of which are for entire communities, as in the Khan al-Ahmar community east of Jerusalem.

The occupation in the West Bank establishes 176 settlements inhabited by approximately 670,000 Jews, in addition to 128 outposts, 94 military sites, 25 industrial sites and 25 tourist and service sites.

And Palestinians can build without Israeli permission in less than 12% of the historical area of ​​Palestine, which amounts to about 27 thousand square kilometers, specifically the centers of cities and villages.