The eight villages that are under immediate threat of eviction

The eight villages that are under immediate threat of eviction

Eight Palestinian villages in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, suffer on a daily basis from the arrogance of the Israeli occupation, after the decision of the Israeli occupation court to give the green light to the army for training in the Palestinian villages. The decision of the racist occupation court was issued in May of 2022, and the residents of these villages constantly experience the daily training, the raid of their homes, the arrest and detention of shepherds, and the confiscation of cars. All this pressure is put on the Palestinian population in order to displace them from their homes.

The decision was issued against eight villages, namely (Jana, Markaz, Halawa, Al-Fakhit, Al-Tabban, Al-Majaz, Isfi, Maghair Al-Abeed).

I met a number of residents of some villages that were affected after this racist decision, and everyone talked about the suffering they face on a daily basis.

In the village of Isfi, I met several people, including Ismail Badr, where he said, “When my children leave the house in the morning heading to school, fear creeps into my heart and I feel uneasy because the Israeli occupation army is deployed in all roads and sets up checkpoints daily.” Every morning, the Israeli occupation stops school students and searches their bags. A very difficult exam for the students’ families to bear. “When Asfi’s school was built, I was relieved psychologically and was happy because my children will now study in the village and close to home, and I would be reassured about them. But this did not last long because the Israeli occupation demolished Asfi’s school. I saw fear and insecurity for my children, even their home felt strange. You feel fear even in your own home.”

There, not far from the village of Asfi in the historical Khirbet Janba, lives Issa Abu Yunis, who spoke to me and told me, after the decision of the Israeli Occupation Court, to give the villages of Masafer Yatta to the army for training. The Israeli occupation prevents all shepherds from reaching the pastures, and the Israeli occupation also trains them by firing missiles and firing. It destroyed everything in the pastures, destroyed the natural weeds, and wild animals migrated because of these exercises. Children do not sleep at night because of the sounds of terror and the shells fired by the Israeli occupation army during training.

Al-Fakhit is a Palestinian village, and it is one of the villages included in the decision of the Israeli Occupation Court. This village is inhabited by Hajja Wadha Abu Subha. Her house was demolished more than four times within one year, and she is still steadfast and supporting all the residents of the village.

“I lost my home and the home of my children and grandchildren, but I did not and will not leave and leave my land in which I was born and married and gave birth to my children in it and I saw my grandchildren playing in it. I will not leave as long as I breathe. It is my land and my home, I cannot live outside it,” Hajja said.

There is also the village of Al Markaz, a village located along line 48 that was demolished more than once, and its people still live in it despite the pressures exerted by the occupation towards the residents of this village, including searches at night and confiscation of cars. Also, the village of Halawa is located along the 48 line, and its people also suffer from these trainings of the Israeli occupation army, which is near the village.

Al-Majaz is also one of the villages of Masafer Yatta that was affected by the decision of the Israeli Occupation Court, as the Palestinian residents suffer from the training practiced by the Israeli occupation army. Tanks and military vehicles pass through the center of the village. Children cry silently from fear and panic and tears flow from their eyes without a sound.

All the villages of Masafer Yatta suffer from the same pain and fear practiced by the Israeli occupation under the pretext that these villages have become a training area for the army. Can you imagine your home and land that you inherited from your father and your father inherited from his father became a training area for the army? How would you feel at this tragic moment? Frustrated, sad, angry, afraid, I think it will be all of the above. My house, in which I was born and grew up in the arms of my family, my memories are inside, how can I leave it and live in another place, if there is one?

There are simple people in Masafer Yatta who want to live in peace without fear and to feel safe in their homes without the terror of military training, for their children to go to school without the parents worrying about them because of a treacherous bullet that surprised one of their students during the military training of the Israeli occupation army. This is all that the traveler’s family wants. Nothing more than letting them live in safety and peace from the Israeli occupation.