The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, B’Tselem, called on the international community to prevent the forcible transfer of Masafer Yatta communities, approved by the Israeli Occupation High court.
B’Tselem said in a statement, “After more than 20 years of legal proceedings, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled on 4 May that the forcible transfer of hundreds of Palestinians from their homes and the destruction of their communities – for the clear purpose of taking over their lands in the service of Jewish interests – is legal. The justices have thus proved once again that the occupied cannot expect justice from the occupier’s court.”
“The decision, weaving baseless legal interpretation with decontextualized facts, makes it clear that there is no crime that the high court justices will not find a way to legitimize,” it added.
“Employing sugarcoated language, hypocrisy, and lies, the justices once again fulfilled their role in Israel’s regime of Jewish supremacy and paved the way for the crime of forcible transfer to be committed, while reversing reality: the ruling cast Palestinian victims as the “unlawful” offenders, while portraying the apartheid regime as the victim,” it stressed.
B’Tselem called on the international community to prevent Israel from forcibly transferring the Masafer Yatta communities and make sure, should this crime be committed, that those responsible for it – including government ministers, the military top echelons, and the supreme court justices – will be held accountable.
Last Wednesday, the Israeli Supreme Court issued its ruling paving the way for the demolition of eight small villages in Masafer Yatta, located in the farthest south of Hebron province in the occupied West Bank.
The court’s move, which is considered one of the largest expulsions carried out by the Israeli occupation in recent decades, leads to the confiscation of over 35,000 dunam of land to consolidate colonial settlement construction in the region.
The area has been subjected to repeated Israeli occupation violations by settlers and soldiers targeting their main source of living – livestock. These violations include the demolition of animal barns, homes, and residential structures.
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