The Israeli occupation authorities ordered the demolition of a mosque in the southern Hebron Hills, ie. Wafa There is a report.
According to Rateb Jabour of the Wall and Settlements Resistance Committees in Masafer Yatta, the Palestinians living in the neighborhood of Khashm Al-Daraj have to demolish the mosque but they have two weeks to oppose the order. The mosque, he said, serves several communities in Masafer Yatta and the South Hebron Hills.
The demolition order comes amid concerns that Israel’s new far-right government led by Benjamin Netanyahu, which includes racist figures known for their hostility towards Palestine, could push for demolition more on Palestinian homes and infrastructure in the Occupied West Bank, particularly in Masafer Yatta. .
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On May 4 last year, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled that there were no legal obstacles to the planned expulsion of Palestinian residents from Masafer Yatta to make way for a military training area. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) then said the ruling “effectively put the residents at risk of forced eviction, arbitrary displacement and violent transfer”.
According to UNOCHA, in the 1980s the Israeli occupation authorities designated a part of Masafer Yatta as “Firing Zone 918” and declared it a closed military zone. Since this declaration, the indigenous residents of Palestine are at risk of forced eviction, demolition and violent displacement. The two villages of Khirbet Sarura and Kharoubeh no longer exist because they were demolished.
“Approximately 20 percent of the West Bank is designated as ‘Military Zones’, affecting over 5,000 Palestinians from 38 communities,” explained UNOCHA. “Currently, Masafer Yatta is home to 215 Palestinian families of approximately 1,150 people, of whom 569 are children.”
In an attempt to force the Palestinians out of the area, the authorities have deprived the residents of access to basic facilities, including drainage, and refused permission to build new houses to meet the needs of the population. growing.
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