[News] Israeli Supreme Court decision on Masafer Yatta paves way for land grabs

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/supreme-court-decision-masafer-yatta-paves-way-israeli-land-grabs>
Israeli Supreme Court decision on Masafer Yatta paves way for land grabs
By Akram al-Waara in occupied West Bank - August 22, 2022
------------------------------

The Israeli Supreme Court rejected an appeal on Sunday from the residents
of Masafer Yatta in the southern occupied West Bank, petitioning against
the demolition of two schools, clinics and structures in the area.

The residents' lawyers had filed the petition following a supreme court
decision
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-supreme-court-paves-way-eviction-masafer-yatta>
in May that ordered the expulsion of 1,200 Palestinians in Masafer Yatta so
the area could be turned into an Israeli military "firing zone" - a
training ground for Israeli forces.

'Israel wants to kick us out and they'll do anything to make it happen'

*- Sami Huraini*,* activist*

The decision gave the army the green light to completely raze eight
villages in Masafer Yatta to the ground, including Khirbet al-Fakheet and
Janba, and demolish hundreds of other structures in surrounding villages -
including four schools - due to their presence in what the army has
designated as "Firing Zone 918".

The residents' lawyers filed another petition seeking an interim injunction
on Sunday but said that if it fails, it would affect the nearby villages of
Tuba and Isfai as well.

"If the new petition is rejected, which we unfortunately feel will most
likely happen, then it will threaten 50 percent of the structures in
Fakheet, Janba, Tuba, and Isfai with imminent demolition," Sami Huraini, a
local activist with Youth of Sumud, told Middle East Eye.

"There isn't a lot of hope that another petition will stop things. Israel
wants to kick us out and they'll do anything to make it happen."

Huraini warned that while Tuba was not part of the eight villages that were
slated for demolition in May's supreme court decision, it, and other
villages, will continue to see more demolition orders come their way in the
coming weeks and months.

"We have been saying this forever, that even the villages that weren't
listed in the decision in May are going to be under threat because of the
precedent that the supreme court decision laid out," Huraini said.

"All of Masafer Yatta is under threat."
Firing Zone 918

Masafer Yatta, also known as the South Hebron Hills, lies on the southern
tip of the West Bank, bordering the Green Line. It is home to several
herding communities that live in small hamlets across the hilly desert
terrain.

Around 3,000 hectares of the land in Masafer Yatta, encompassing 12
villages, was declared a military firing zone in the 1980s, and the Israeli
military then sought to remove the residents from the land. It was
subsequently declared Firing Zone 918.
<https://www.btselem.org/south_hebron_hills/masafer_yatta>

In 1999, the army forcibly expelled around 700 residents of Masafer Yatta
from their homes after declaring that they were living "illegally" in a
firing zone.

The residents petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court soon after the
expulsion, which initiated an interim injunction that allowed them to
return to their homes, but banned any new construction or development in
the area. As a result, many were forced to build without permits to account
for the growing population.

Throughout the court proceedings, the Israeli army continued to enforce
home demolitions in Masafer Yatta and also conduct live military training
in the firing zone, often forcing residents to leave their homes for days
at a time.

<https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/well-never-leave-story-ancient-palestinian-village-fighting-imminent-israeli-expulsion#autoplay>

‘We’ll never leave’: The story of a Palestinian village fighting an
imminent Israeli expulsion

The residents' legal battle in the Israeli courts had spanned over 20 years
when their petitions were finally rejected by the supreme court in May.
Rights groups have decried the supreme court’s decision, saying it would
amount to forcible transfer, a war crime
<https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_rul_rule129>
under international law.

Rights groups say that Israel uses firing zones as a tactic to grab land in
the occupied Palestinian territory and use it for Israeli settlements.

"The State of Israel cites formal arguments such as ‘living in a firing
zone’ and ‘violating planning and building laws’ to justify its policy in
Masafer Yatta. These are false claims, meant to conceal Israel's
aspirations to take over the land for its own purposes and use it to
benefit the Jewish population only,” Israeli human rights group B
<https://www.btselem.org/south_hebron_hills/masafer_yatta>'Tselem
<https://www.btselem.org/south_hebron_hills/masafer_yatta> said.

Classified documents revealed by +972 magazine in July
<https://www.972mag.com/firing-zones-sharon-settlements/> showed minutes
from a 1979 meeting by the World Zionist Organization's settlement
division, during which Ariel Sharon, the agricultural minister at the time,
explained that firing zones "were created for one purpose: land reserves
for settlements”.

It is estimated that as of 2015, approximately 17 percent of the entire
West Bank has been designated as firing zones, primarily in the Jordan
Valley, the northern Dead Sea area, and the South Hebron Hills.
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