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<h1 class="article-title"><small>Israel Issues Demolition Orders for 8
Palestinian Villages</small></h1>
<div class="article-subtitledetails">
<span class="article-details"><span class="article-detail"><img
class="icon" src="cid:part1.00010503.07020403@freedomarchives.org"
alt="author"> Monday July 23, 2012 17:21</span><span
class="article-detail"><img class="icon"
src="cid:part2.06090600.05050205@freedomarchives.org" alt="author"> by
Kelly Joiner<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.imemc.org/article/63946">http://www.imemc.org/article/63946</a><br>
<br>
</span></span></div>
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday ordered the demolition of
8 Palestinian villages in the hills south of Hebron because the Israeli
military needs the land for training exercises, the Israeli newspaper
Ha’aretz reported.
<p class="photo"> A total of 1500 residents will be evicted from their
homes and have their lands confiscated in the villages of Majaz,
Tabban, Sfai, Fakheit, Halaweh, Mirkez, Jinba and Kharuba. The villages
of Tuba, Mufaqara, Sarura and Megheir al-Abeid, which are also nearby,
appear to have been spared.<br>
</p>
<br>
Evacuation orders were first issued in 1999, but were frozen by an
injunction from the Israeli High Court of Justice. The Israeli military
views the land as theirs however, and the Palestinians living there as
illegal squatters according to Ha’aretz. <br>
<br>
All of the villages in question have existed since at least the 1830s.
However, all are in Area C, which is under complete Israeli control. <br>
<br>
This control means that Palestinians living in these villages are also
not allowed to build on or improve their property in any way, as this
is seen as “illegal construction” and evidence that residents are not
longtime citizens but new migrants to the area. In practice this means
that Palestinians do not have any way to provide for a naturally
expanding population through adding cisterns, restrooms, or rooms to
existing property or the addition of schools or other new buildings. <br>
<br>
Ha’aretz also reports that the state plans to move residents to the
town of Yatta as collaborators have informed them that they are
actually residents there.<br>
<br>
The Israeli military intends to use the land to train soldiers and must
be allowed to conduct live fire exercises which it cannot do with
residents so nearby. The article says that this is not because
residents may be injured or killed by live fire, but because they may
spy on the exercises or steal weapons to use for “terror purposes.”<br>
<br>
Mass forcible transfer of protected people in occupied territory by an
occupying force is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and in
contravention of all established international law. The only exception
that is made is when there are hostilities in the area and transfer is
necessary for the safety of the people in question.<br>
********************************************************************************************<br>
<h1 class="article-title">Israeli Settler [sic] Activity Continues</h1>
<div class="article-subtitledetails"><span class="article-details"><span
class="article-detail">Monday July 23, 2012 16:13</span><span
class="article-detail"><img class="icon"
src="cid:part2.06090600.05050205@freedomarchives.org" alt="author"> by
Kelly Joiner<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.imemc.org/article/63945">http://www.imemc.org/article/63945</a><br>
<br>
</span></span></div>
Israeli settlers [sic] seized Palestinian land in several areas around
the West Bank on Sunday and Monday according to WAFA news.
<p class="article"> On Sunday, near the village of Yatta south of
Hebron, Israeli settlers [sic] from the illegal settlement of Susiya
seized Palestinian land and placed a power generator there in advance
of plans to expand the settlement in the area. <br>
<br>
This was followed by additional land confiscation in the Jordan Valley
and the area south of Bethlehem on Monday.<br>
<br>
The head of the village council, Aref Daraghmeh, in al-Maleh near Tubas
in the Jordan Valley told WAFA news that Israeli settlers [sic]
confiscated over 12 acres of Palestinian land and began to farm it on
Monday.<br>
<br>
And in al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, Ahmad Salah, coordinator of the
popular committee against settlements said that Israeli settlers [sic]
dug a nearly 100-foot long escarpment, destroyed about 50 grape trees
and opened an unpaved road to another illegally seized plot of land.
Salah explained that all of this is in preparation for settlement
expansion and that infrastructure construction has already begun.<br>
<br>
Israeli settlements are all illegal under international law, but the
Israeli government continues to support them. </p>
<br>
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