Israeli to displace 1,300 Palestinians from Hebron

The Israeli authorities have begun moves to evacuate about 1,300 Palestinians from eight Palestinians villages in south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on the pretext that ‘they occupy a firing range in military training area’.

The Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, reported on Thursday that the ‘state’ wanted to evict the Palestinians from their homes because it wanted to save the Israel army time and money.

Earlier this year, in January, Palestinians from 12 villages in the area filed two petitions in the Supreme Court. They called for the cancelation of the planned measures and the military order that considered the area a ‘closed military zone.’

According to Haaretz, the Israeli Authorities did not ask the Jewish settlers to leave the area. Instead, they only asked the Palestinians who have been living in the area for hundreds of years.

Israel decided to expel all the villagers in the area in 2000 for the same reason, but the Supreme Court decided to leave them until a final resolution was issued regarding their case.

In July last year, an Israeli court decided not to demolish four of the villages following a request by the Israeli army. That decision was approved by the former defence minister, Ehud Barack, allowed the Palestinian villagers returned back to their villages.

Meanwhile, legal experts have affirmed that the forceful expulsion of Palestinian residents contravenes international law and should be challenged in the International Criminal Court in The Hague.