The occupation rejects the petition of the residents of “Masafer Yatta” and declares them “firing zones”
2000 Palestinians in Hebron... 22 years of aggression and harassment
The residents of Yatta communities face a second displacement at any time.
Emirates today
The occupation army suppresses the marches of the population rejecting the decision of displacement.
Emirates today
Foreign peace activists in solidarity with "Masafer Yatta".
Emirates today
Residents of "Masafer Yatta" are subjected to harassment by the permanent occupation forces.
Emirates today
Researcher at the Abdullah Al-Hourani Muhammad Al-Hroub Center.
Emirates today
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Six hours straight, from the city of Ramallah to the far south of the desert city of Hebron, in the south of the West Bank, Palestinian Jamil Al-Amour spends a breathtaking and breathtaking journey, while moving between Palestinian areas, passing through military checkpoints and Israeli iron gates sprawling along the roads of the West Bank, to reach To the Masafer Yatta area, which hosts 12 Bedouin gatherings.
Al-Amour, who lives in the village of “Al-Fakhit”, one of the communities of “Masafer Yatta”, is forced to perpetuate this image on a daily basis, in order to provide a living for his children by working in the West Bank, after the occupation demolished animal and agricultural facilities that were his only source of livelihood, in 2020, and bulldozed and confiscated dozens of agricultural dunams, thus ending his hopes while waiting for the fruits of the land to be harvested in order to secure a decent life that his family had long desired.
The suffering that the father swallows, affects his children as well, and throughout the days of the week, as they are forced daily to wake up early in the morning hours, in preparation for traveling long and rugged distances, on foot, in order to reach the study seats located in areas far from the “Masafer Yatta”, which It lacks the minimum necessities of survival, and the simplest services of daily life.
Al-Amour and Al-Masafer residents live within the Bedouin communities, which they established decades ago, which are: “Janba”, “Al-Fakhit”, “Al-Markaz”, “Al-Majaz”, “Al-Tabban”, “Maghayer Al-Ubaid” and “Al-Mafqara”, And “Al-Tuba”, “Khilat Al-Daba’”, “Safi Al-Fawqa”, “Al-Tahli” and “Al-Halawa”.
22 years of narrowing
Adjacent to the borders of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, specifically the “Karak” governorate, along a distance of 200 km, starting from the northern West Bank, and 25 km from the center of Hebron city, on the slopes of the hills of the last inhabited area on the border separating the West Bank and the occupied Palestinian interior. In the name of the "Green Line", 2,000 Palestinians live a primitive, harsh life, inside ancient caves and caves, surrounded by rickety tin-board houses and corrugated wood.
The residents have faced this fate since 2000, when the occupation forcibly seized their lands, under the pretext that they were military areas. Since that time, the Bedouin “Masafer Yatta” has been subjected to long and multiple episodes of restrictions, confiscation and deprivation.
Today, after the Israeli court rejected a legal petition submitted by the residents of the Masafer Yatta communities against the occupation’s decision to declare their communities and agricultural lands “firing zones” 22 years ago, 2,000 Palestinians are one step away from displacement waiting for them for the second time, after their expulsion. of them in the year 2000.
The head of the local council in "Masafer Yatta", Nidal Younis, said: "On Thursday, May 5, the occupation court rejected our petition, according to which we have been waging a judicial battle for many years, to recover our confiscated lands, and to engage in our only work in agriculture and sheep breeding. , without being subjected to restrictions and attacks by the Israeli forces, which deprive us of our rights, on the pretext that the Masafer Yatta lands are areas for shooting and military training.”
Younis continues by saying: “The occupation, in addition to the decision to reject the petition of the people of Yatta communities, and threaten them with expulsion from their lands, Israel, after 22 years of confiscation and restrictions inside our land, and procrastination in the corridors of the judiciary, gives the green light to its military units to displace the residents of the communities (Masafer Yatta), confiscation of their property and control of their lands.
The Masafer Yatta communities were subjected to forced displacement by force of arms in 2000, and at that time a precautionary order was issued not to displace the residents and return them to their lands. As a result, the residents submitted a legal petition, based on their right to own their stolen agricultural dunams, and based on all documents and evidence, Which confirms their possession of their villages and lands through historical times and eras, according to Younes.
The head of the Masafer Yatta village council indicates that the residents of Masafer Yatta have, over the years, faced a policy of restrictions and violations against them, to thwart their petition within the corridors of the Israeli courts, and with the aim of forcing them to leave their villages and land, in favor of settlement expansion projects.
Plots and attacks
The policy of displacing the residents of Masafer Yatta does not depend on multiple ambitions, implemented by the occupation forces by force of arms. The settlements on Palestinian lands besiege them from all sides, so that the settlers complete the cycle of suffering and oppression, by committing daily attacks against the residents and their properties, and their sheep as well.
According to data issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the occupation authorities have demolished or confiscated (217) Palestinian buildings in those areas, since 2011, displacing (608) Palestinians.
On the other hand, a researcher at the Abdullah Al-Hourani Center for Studies and Documentation, Muhammad Al-Hroub, a resident of Hebron, told Emirates Today: “The occupation forces were not satisfied with the policy of displacing the residents of (Masafer Yatta), but rather established on the lands of the Musafir villages and in their surroundings nine Settlements, including Ma’on, Carmel, Umm al-Aris, Karmiel, and Suseh, while settlers commit daily dozens of attacks against residents, their property and livestock, as well as poisoning water wells used to irrigate agricultural crops.
It shows that Israel is trying hard to control the Bedouin lands of the "Masafer Yatta", through persecution operations against the shepherds and farmers in the eastern communities, and giving the settlers a free hand to attack the people, and to seize their land and property.
The Masafer Yatta area extends over an area of 35,000 dunams, and abuts the southern region separating the territories of Palestine occupied in 1948 and the rest of Palestine, which was occupied by Israel in 1967, which made it the greed of the occupation and settlers, according to the wars.
The researcher at the Abdullah Al-Hourani Center for Studies and Documentation points out that the Masafer lands were declared a military zone by the occupation authorities in the seventies of the last century, according to Military Resolution No. (918), and in 1999 the residents began to be prosecuted with eviction decisions and the demolition of their homes, and the establishment of settlements on their land and property.
After the Israeli court rejected a legal petition submitted by the residents of the "Masafer Yatta" communities, against the occupation's decision to declare their communities and agricultural lands "firing zones" 22 years ago, 2,000 Palestinians became a step away from displacement.
The Masafer Yatta area extends over an area of 35,000 acres, and abuts the southern region separating the territories occupied in 1948 and the rest of Palestine, which was occupied by Israel in 1967.
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