Israeli forces today ordered the demolition of an under-construction house in Masafer Yatta in the southern West Bank district of Hebron, according to a local activist.
Rateb al-Jbour, a local anti-colonial-settlement activist, said that Israeli forces handed a villager of al-Farra, one of 12 hamlets making up the Masafer Yatta, which rely heavily on animal husbandry as the main source of livelihood, a notice, ordering him to demolish his 120-square-meter house under construction purportedly for being proximate to the nearby encroaching colonial settlement of Otniel.
Recently, Israel’s top court gave the army the green light to forcibly expel some 1,300 Palestinians living in twelve villages or hamlets making up the Masafer Yatta area, which relies heavily on animal husbandry as the main source of livelihood, marking one of the largest expulsions carried out by the State of Israel in recent decades.
Located in Area C of the West Bank, under full Israeli administrative and military control, the area has been subjected to repeated Israeli violations by settlers and soldiers targeting their main source of living – livestock.
It has been designated as a closed Israeli military zone for training since 1980s and accordingly referred to as Firing Zone 918.
Israeli violations against the area include demolition of animal barns, homes and residential structures. Issuance of construction permits by Israel to local Palestinians in the area is non-existent.
SOURCE: PALESTINE NEWS & INFO AGENCY