![]() ![]() In a 2012 petition to the HCJ, the Israeli military reasserted its right to evict eight of the thirteen communities from the area, while offering them access to the land for cultivation and grazing only on weekends and Jewish holidays.However, the existence of eviction orders left residents living under the constant threat of destruction of their properties and the risk of forcible transfer. A few months later, the Israeli High Court of Justice (HCJ), in response to a petition filed on behalf of the residents, issued an interim injunction allowing most of the people to return, pending a final court decision.This eviction contradicted an existing Israeli military order, which stipulated that the restrictions regarding the firing zone would not be applied to existing residents of the area. In 1999, the Israeli government issued eviction orders against approximately 700 Palestinian residents of Masafer Yatta for “illegally living in a firing zone”, as a result of which the Israeli military evicted by force most of them and destroyed or confiscated their homes and property.Currently in Masafer Yatta, 215 Palestinian households live in the area, including about 1,150 people, of which 569 are children. ![]() Approximately 20% of the West Bank has been designated as “Firing Zones”, affecting over 5,000 Palestinians from 38 communities.The two villages of Khirbet Sarura and Kharoubeh no longer exist after their homes were demolished. Since this declaration, residents have been at risk of forced eviction, demolition, and forcible transfer. In the 1980s, Israeli authorities designated a part of Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills as ’Firing Zone 918’, a closed military zone. ![]()
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