HEBRON, Friday, December 23, 2022 (WAFA) – Israeli forces today seized the tractor of a Palestinian farmer from Masafer Yatta, south of the southern West Bank city of Hebron, according to a local source.

Fuad al-Amur, who serves as the coordinator of the local steadfastness committees, said that the gun-toting soldiers confiscated the tractor of a farmer while the latter was ploughing some fields belonging to the Jabarin family in Shaab al-Butum, one of the 19 hamlets making up Masafer Yatta, preventing the landowners from preparing the land for planting the seeds.

He added that the move came as part of the wider Israeli occupation authorities’ efforts to displace the indigenous Palestinian communities and take over their land for colonial settlement expansion.

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.

K.F.