#warns #worst #Palestinian #displacement #decades
An EU envoy on Thursday warned of the possible mass displacement of Palestinians from an area of the West Bank that is at the center of a lengthy legal battle following a disputed Israeli court ruling.
European Union Ambassador to the Palestinian Territories, Sven Kuehn von Burgsdorff, issued the warning while touring Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank, where forced evictions of Palestinians have escalated after they began on April 4.
“If there were to be mass evictions and forced displacement, it would be the largest forced displacement in decades — that’s our concern here,” he told AFP.
Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the more than 1,000 residents of the Masafer Yatta villages had “failed to prove” their right to permanent residence in the area before the army declared it a restricted military area called “Firing Zone 918”.
The verdict ended a two-decade legal battle and paved the way for Palestinians to be evicted from their homes.
Von Burgsdorff told AFP there had been a dramatic increase in demolitions since the verdict.
Since the ruling, 27 buildings have been demolished and at least 30 other demolition orders issued – more than double the number in recent years, according to an EU source.
In the early 1980s, the army declared the 3,000-hectare (30-square-kilometer) area a restricted military zone, claiming it was uninhabited.
Palestinians living there say it was home to their people long before Israeli soldiers set foot in the West Bank, which has been occupied by the Jewish state since 1967.
Von Burgsdorff accused Israel’s top judges of flouting international law in a ruling that he said “appears to ignore” Israel’s responsibility to Palestinian residents as an “occupying power.”
“Families have lost their homes, but this decision is a political one, not a legal one at all,” he told AFP.
“International pressure is the only way to stop this,” he added.
The diplomatic visit was delayed two days after the army decided to hold a live fire drill in the area.
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