Bedouin Palestinians facing eviction by Israel vow to stay on land

Israeli Supreme Court upholds long-standing expulsion order in Masafer Yatta region of occupied West Bank

A Palestinian family keeps warm as Israel's Supreme Court rejects a petition challenging the eviction of more than 1,000 Palestinian inhabitants of Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. All photos: Reuters

Palestinian children wear masks in the cave where they live in Masafer Yatta.

A general view of Masafer Yatta as Israel's Supreme Court rejects a petition against the eviction of more than 1,000 Palestinian inhabitants of a rural part, South of Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 7, 2022. Picture taken May 7,2022. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS / Yousri A Jamal

A Palestinian woman gives water to her livestock in Masafer Yatta. After the Supreme Court's decision, she does not know for how much longer it will be home.

A Palestinian family prepares tea but their future is shrouded in uncertainty.

A Palestinian woman arranges her belongings in the cave where she lives, as Israel's Supreme Court rejects a petition against the eviction of more than 1,000 Palestinian inhabitants of a rural part, in Masafer Yatta, South of Hebron, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, May 7, 2022. Picture taken May 7,2022. REUTERS / Mussa Qawasma

A Palestinian shepherd tends to his livestock in the rural West Bank area.

Bedouin communities in the southern West Bank are makeshift, a result of decades of uncertainty. Homes are made from tin and plastic sheets, water is trucked in and power is obtained from batteries or a few solar panels.

The lives of thousands of Palestinians in a cluster of Bedouin communities have been on hold for more than four decades, since the land they cultivated and lived on was declared a military firing and training zone by Israel.

Since that decision in early 1981, residents of the Masafer Yatta region have weathered demolitions, property seizures, restrictions, disruptions of food and water supplies and the lingering threat of expulsion.

That threat grew significantly this week after Israel’s Supreme Court upheld a long-standing expulsion order against eight of the 12 Palestinian hamlets forming Masafer Yatta, potentially leaving at least 1,000 people homeless.

On Friday, some residents said they were determined to stay on the land.

The verdict came after a more than two-decade legal struggle by Palestinians to remain in their homes.

Israel has said that the residents use the area only for seasonal agriculture and that they had been offered a compromise that would have given them occasional access.

The Palestinians say that if implemented, the ruling opens the way for the eviction of all the 12 communities that have a population of 4,000 people, mostly Bedouin, who rely on animal herding and a traditional form of desert agriculture.

The residents of Jinba, one of the hamlets, said on Friday that they opposed any compromise because they have lived in the area long before Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war.

Issa Abu Eram was born in a cave in the rugged mountain terrain 48 years ago and has endured a tough life because building is banned here.

In the winter, Mr Abu Eram and his family members live in a cave. In the summer, they stay in caravans near by.

His goats are a source of income and on Friday he laid out dozens of balls of hardened goat milk yoghurt on the roof of a shack to dry.

Mr Abu Eram said his children grew up with the threat of expulsion hanging over them. They are attending a makeshift school in Jinba, with the oldest son now in Grade 12.

“He did not live in any other place except Jinba. How are you going to convince him … to live somewhere else?” he said.

The Palestinian leadership on Friday condemned the Israeli Supreme Court ruling, which was handed down on Wednesday, when most of Israel was shut down for the country’s Independence Day.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, said the removal order “amounts to forced displacement and ethnic cleansing, in violation of international law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions.”

Also on Friday, Israel’s Interior Minister, Ayelet Shaked, said Israel was set to advance plans for the construction of 4,000 settler homes in the occupied West Bank.

If approved, it would be the biggest advancement of settlement plans since the US administration of President Joe Biden took office.

The White House is opposed to settlement growth because it further erodes the possibility of an eventual two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The West Bank has been under Israeli military rule for nearly 55 years. Masafer Yatta is in the 60 per cent of the territory where the Palestinian Authority is prohibited from operating. The Palestinians want the West Bank to form the main part of their future state.

Jewish settlers have established outposts in the area that are not officially authorised by Israel but are protected by the military. Last fall, dozens of settlers attacked a village in the area and a boy, 4, was admitted to hospital after being struck in the head with a stone.

For now, the families say they have only one choice left: to stay and stick to their land.

“I don’t have an alternative and they cannot remove me,” said farmer Khalid Al Jabarin, standing outside a goat shed. “The entire government of Israel can’t remove me.

"We will not leave … we will not get out of here because we are the inhabitants of the land.”

Referring to West Bank settlers who came from other countries, he said: “Why would they bring a replacement from South Africa to live in the high mountains, in our land, and replace us, and remove us? Why?”