Fourteen Palestinian villages in the Masafer Yatta area in the South Hebron Hills in the occupied West Bank provide homes to 13,000 inhabitants. Since the early 19th century, they have relied on farming and husbandry of sheep and goats for their income.
In the 1980s the Israeli army designated part of the area a “closed military zone” for training and, according to the United Nations, “sought to remove the communities on this basis.”
Palestinian residents continue to face evacuation and demolition of their homes, cisterns, water mains, roads, structures, and schools. Israeli military equipped with bulldozers destroys it all. Israel forbids Palestinians to build homes on their own land, connect to water and power grids, and graze livestock.
In addition to using the area as a training zone, Israeli has expropriated huge amounts of land from residents to establish Israeli settlements (illegal under international law), whose residents regularly raid the community, viciously attack residents, and destroy structures. During one attack that injured several villagers, a toddler’s skull was fractured by rocks thrown by settlers. The child was in bed.
Israel now plans to build 4,000 new settlement units, requiring the demolition of 12 villages in Masafer Yatta, and the seizure of nearly 5,500 acres of land.
Israel controls more than 95% of the natural water wells in the West Bank. Illegal settlers enjoy running water throughout the year that is diverted from Palestinian use. Israel provides the average illegal settlement household 7.5 times more water than the average Palestinian household, whose available water is vastly lower than the World Health Organization’s recommended amount.
Sources for the fact:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israels-new-settlement-build-blatant-challenge-us-says-palestinian-authority
https://imemc.org/article/soldiers-injure-dozens-of-nonviolent-protesters-near-yatta/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/jordan-warns-against-eviction-of-palestinians-in-south-hebron-hills-area/
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/6/palestinian-bedouins-in-hebron-face-demolitions-settler-attacks
Banner design by Paul Normandia of Red Sun Press