HEBRON, December 19, 2015 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Saturday
prevented Palestinian farmers from plowing their lands in Susiya area to the southeast
of Yatta town, south of Hebron, said WAFA correspondent and a municipal source.
WAFA correspondent reported that Israeli forces stormed Susiya
village, and prevented farmers from plowing their 50-dunums of land,
purportedly for being classified as a closed military zone.
Head of Susiya Council, Jihad Nawaj‘a, noted that an Israeli court
has previously ruled that this plot of land in particular and the land on which
the nearby settlement of Susiya was built in 1982, were illegally seized from
the Palestinian locals of Susiys, who already have Ottoman-era title deeds
proving their ownership of the land.
The local official noted that despite the court ruling and the
title deeds, Israeli forces continue to prevent farmers from plowing and
tending to their land.
Highlighting Palestinian locals’ suffering, he noted that the
village locals were originally forced to relocate to the Hebron village of
Susiya after being expelled from their lands in the vicinity of the armistice
line, to the south of Hebron and north of Beersheba in 1948.
Nawaj‘a added the village locals were expelled in 1986 once again
from their lands, which were confiscated for the construction of an Israeli
public park to the north of Susiya settlement.
In last July 2014, Premier Rami Hamdallah paid a solidarity visit
to the village, home to about 300 Palestinians who were threatened with
imminent forced displacement.
Hamdallah called the international community to halt Israel’s
policy of “forced displacement” and hailed the villagers for their
steadfastness.
Hamdallah’s
visit came days after some 500 Palestinian, Israeli and international activists
protested against Israel’s plan to expel the villagers and demolish the village
as part of an international campaign to protest the demolition.
Susiya
has been under the constant threat of being demolished by Israel since last May
when the Israeli High Court approved the demolition of villagers’ tents which
function as their only homes and the relocation of about 300 Bedouin villagers.
The
villagers were handed orders by Israel’s ‘Civil Administration’ on July 15
to destroy some 40 homes and other structures in the village, including a
clinic, animal shelters, storerooms and outhouses, partly constructed with
funding from European Union.
In
an urgent letter sent to the EU Diplomacy Chief Federica Mogherini calling for
suspension of the EU Association Agreement with Israel over the planned
demolition of Susiya, a group of 21 European parliamentarians said: “Many of
the occupants of the Palestinian village of Susiya are from families expelled from
the original site of the village in 1986 to make way for an Israeli
archeological park, run by settlers who had established the rival Jewish
settlement of Susiya three years earlier.”
K.F./T.R.
