Barak orders demolition of eight Palestinian villages for military training area

Media reports say that Israel’s Minister of Defence has ordered the demolition of eight Palestinian villages in the South Hebron Hills in the occupied West Bank. Ehud Barak said that the land will be transformed into a military training area for the Israel Defence Forces.

According to the English edition of Haaretz, “The villages slated for demolition are the larger villages in the region: Majaz, Tabban, Sfai, Fakheit, Halaweh, Mirkez, Jinba, and Kharuba, which have a total of 1,500 residents.”

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The newspaper said that the residents of the targeted villages will be moved to the West Bank town of Yatta and its environs. The Israeli occupation authorities “will allow the residents to work their lands and graze their flocks when the IDF is not training”.

The report added that Barak agreed to leave four villages alone in the northernmost part of the area, “even though this would reduce the dimensions of the training area and prevent the use of live ammunition”.