Military order to seize and put hands on 58 dunums of Masafer Yatta lands south of Hebron

May 18, 2022

• Violation: A military order to seize lands for the purpose of building a section of the Annexation Wall.
• Violation date: 05/18/2022.
• Location: Masafer Yatta – south of Hebron.
• Perpetrators: The Israeli Occupation Army.
• Affected party: Citizens of Masafer Yatta.

The details:

The Israeli occupation army issued a military order to seize the lands of citizens in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, for “security” reasons.

The military order bears the number (22/10/T) and is entitled “An order regarding the seizure of lands”, and it seizes an area (58 dunams) of the citizens’ lands located in the natural basin No. 2 which includes the sites of Umm Al-Arous and Arqoub Bir Al- ‘Ad, and in the basin No. 1 of the sites of Arqoub Shll, Wadi Khalil, and the village of Janba.

Pictures 1-6 The squatter order issued by the occupation

According to the order, the right to dispose of these lands will be transferred from their owners to the so-called commander of the occupation army in the West Bank.

The military order stated under the item “putting hands/ seize” that the purpose of seizing these lands came for the purposes described by the occupation army as being the security. The military order was also included with an aerial and topographic photos showing the location of the seized lands, as it is clear from them – and it is expected – that the purpose of that is to establish a new section of the wall of annexation and expansion that passes in the area.

The length of the section referred to in the military order reached 2,700 meters, and it will pass near the village of Jinba, especially on the western and southern sides of it.

It is clear from the analysis and mapping included with the military order; that the way of the wall is expected to be established in the area which is located in the territories occupied in 1967, and will possess behind it a large area of land that lies between racist wall and the Green Line.

It is also clear that the wall will pass through plain agricultural lands planted with winter crops, and other areas that are pastures for citizens’ livestock.

Photos 7+8: shows the occupation heavy machines working to erect the wall near the village of Janba.

The military order also stated that its validity period (seizing lands) starts from the date of its signing (May 18, 2022) and ends on December 31, 2025, bearing in mind that while all military orders are based on a delaine date that will expire, but when the wall was built since the occupation authorities started in 2002, when it was built in the occupied Palestinian territories, it was always renewed and is still in force on these lands.

The reality behind this above mentioned military order to erect the wall or comes in light of the Supreme Occupation Court issuing its decision to forcibly deport the citizens of Masafer Yatta villages from their lands and homes, ignoring their historical right to their lands and properties in this area.

International laws and charters related to attacks on lands and natural resources states the following:

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 1:

1. All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

2. All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic co-operation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.