Israeli forces today forcefully expelled over ten Palestinian families from their houses in the northern Jordan Valley to make room for military drills, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Aref Daraghmeh, a local human rights activist, told WAFA that Israeli forces evicted more than 10 Palestinian families from their homes in al- Burj and al- Mayta villages, citing the need to conduct military drills as a pretext.
Israel evicts ten Palestinian families in the north Jordan Valley so their land, crops et al, can be used for destructive tank & military training https://t.co/3HcdlmIAfG
— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) November 24, 2020
Approximately 6,200 Palestinians live in 38 communities in places earmarked for military use and have had to obtain permission from the Israeli authorities to enter and live in their communities.
In violation of international law, the Israeli military not only temporarily displaces the communities on a regular basis but also confiscates their farmlands, demolishes their homes and infrastructure from time to time.
Israeli occupation forces today forcefully expelled over 10 Palestinian families from their houses in the northern Jordan Valley in the West Bank in Palestine to make room for military drills.#PalestinianLivesMatter #Palestine
#free
#Freedom
#FreePalestine
— Isl@m Essa
(@SaloomaEssa) November 24, 2020
The Jordan Valley covers an area of about 1.6 million dunams (1,600 km2) and constitutes around 30 percent of the total occupied West Bank. According to a previous government report, the Valley includes about 280,000 dunams of arable land, 50,000 of which are still used by Palestinians and 27,000 by illegal Jewish settlers.
The majority of the Jordan Valley is under full Israeli military control, despite being within the West Bank. Meanwhile, at least 44 percent of the total land in the Jordan Valley has been reappropriated by Israeli forces for military purposes and training exercises.
(Palestine Chronicle, WAFA, Social Media)
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