JORDAN VALLEY, West Bank – Israel has begun demolishing a Bedouin village in the occupied West Bank for the second time in three months, calling a rights group an attempt to evacuate an entire Palestinian community from the area.
Israeli authorities say the town of Khirbet Humsah, in the north-west Jordan of the Jordan Valley, was illegally built on a military shooting range, and that residents turned down their offer to relocate to a nearby area.
Khirbet Humsah’s 130 residents promised to stay, while some slept on mattresses and plastic tarpaulins were scattered on the rocky ground. Tent houses and animal shelters in the town were last leveled in November, although residents returned shortly afterwards.
“We will not move from here, we will stay here. If they demolish, we will rebuild,” said one of the residents, Ibrahim Abu Awad. He and other Bedouins in the town said they were afraid Israeli settlers would seize the evacuated land.
Israeli rights group B’Tselem said the demolition at Khirbet Humsah was “extremely wide”, accusing Israel of trying to forcibly transfer Palestinian communities to take over their land. ‘
Some 440,000 Israeli settlers live among more than 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank, an area captured by Israel in a 1967 war and which Palestinians want as part of a future state.
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Residents and B’Tselem began dismantling tents and cattle sheds in Khirbet Humsah on Monday. On Wednesday, Israeli troops accompanied by bulldozers also smashed several steel and wooden structures in the town, Reuters’ TV footage showed.
The dismantled tents housed 74 Palestinians, including 41 minors, B’Tselem said in a statement.
COGAT, Israel’s military liaison with the Palestinians, said it had explained to residents ‘the dangers of staying inside the shooting range’, and offered them space outside.
“Despite the offer, the residents refused to move the tent areas that were erected illegally and without the necessary permits and approvals,” COGAT said.
According to Palestinians and rights groups, such permits are almost impossible to obtain from Israel.