The Israeli human rights group B’tselem has written to the International Criminal Court in an attempt to prevent the forced expulsion of over a thousand Palestinians from their homes, in order to create a military firing zone, or training ground for Israeli occupation forces.
Faraan: B’tselem has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan to urgently intervene to stop Israel from evicting more Palestinian inhabitants from Masafer Yatta, south of al-Khalil in the occupied West Bank.
According to WAFA news agency, eight villages, four schools, clinics and hundreds of other structures in the area are slated for demolition. Masafer Yatta is a rural area made up of a collection of 19 Palestinian villages in the southern West Bank, located south and east of the town of Yatta. Israel has been trying to drive these communities out of their homes and lands for decades, but has recently escalated its actions on all levels.
This escalation followed a May 2022 ruling by Israel’s supreme court. The ruling, which contravened international law provisions and basic moral principles, reached the conclusion that the residents have no right to live on the land and there is no legal impediment to expelling them. However, the forcible transfer of residents in occupied territory is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC.
“Israel has made the residents lives a nightmare: they suffer daily threats by soldiers and settlers to their bodies and property, as well as noise and pollution hazards, routine damage to infrastructure, incessant invasion of their privacy and constant uncertainty over their future,” said B’Tselem in a statement. “Israel is also working to cut these small communities off from their surroundings, with the military placing roadblocks, confiscating cars and hindering activists, journalists and diplomats from accessing the area,” the statement added.
