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<h1 class="title">Israel to evacuate 200 Palestinians in Jordan
Valley for settlement expansion</h1>
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<div class="stamp">Nov. 10, 2017 -<font size="-2">
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=779461">http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=779461</a></font><br>
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JORDAN VALLEY (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities are reportedly planning
to evacuate some 200 Palestinians from their homes and agricultural
lands in the Jordan Valley are of the northern occupied West Bank,
according to local sources.<br>
<div style="font-style: normal;">Member of the Jordan Valley
municipal council Mahdi Daraghmeh told Ma’an on Friday that
Israeli forces delivered demolition and evacuation notices to 30
Palestinian families in the Ein al-Hilweh and Umm al-Jamal
villages in the northern Jordan Valley on Thursday, Nov. 9th. <br>
<br>
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<div style="font-style: normal;">The notices, which Daraghmeh said
were dated Nov. 1st, gave the residents eight days -- until Nov.
9th -- to evacuate some 60 homes and structures voluntarily. </div>
<div style=""><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br>
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<div style="font-style: normal;">Residents are expecting Israeli
forces to arrive to the area to demolish the structures anytime
now, Daraghmeh said.<br>
<br>
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<div style="font-style: normal;">He added that the notices were
signed by an Israeli army chief in the West Bank, and that the
notices mentioned that the lands would be used for illegal Israeli
settlement construction.<br>
<br>
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<div style="font-style: normal;">Earlier on Thursday, reports
emerged on plans announced by the Israeli Minister of Housing to <a
href="http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israel-to-double-number-of-settlers-in-jordan-valley/960811"
target="_blank">increase settlement construction in the Jordan
Valley</a> and double the number of settlers residing the area
from 6,000 to 12,000.Since the<a
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777489"
target="_blank"> occupation of the West Bank, including East
Jerusalem, in 1967, </a>between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis
have moved into Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian
territory, in violation of international law.<br>
<br>
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<div style="font-style: normal;">The estimated 196 government
recognized Israeli settlements scattered across the Palestinian
territory are all considered illegal under international law.<br>
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<div style="font-style: normal;">Meanwhile, Israeli rights group
B’Tselem <a
href="http://www.btselem.org/planning_and_building/20170213_2016_demolitions"
target="_blank">reported </a>that in 2016 Palestinians
experienced the highest number of Israeli demolitions since the
group began recording the incidents.<br>
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At the same time, Peace now reported that Israel’s illegal
settlement construction in the West Bank<a
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777211"
target="_blank"> increased by 34 percent in 2016</a>, with Israeli
authorities initiating construction on 1,814 new settler housing
units.
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
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