Masafer Yatta: Palestinians To Witness Another ‘Nakba’
Imposing eviction on Palestinians is neither a new nor a strange act by the Israeli occupation, it is a form of colonial empowerment in Palestine to lobby for expelling Palestinians out of their homes and land. Many families in Palestinian territories confront the dangers of forced eviction by Israeli Zionists. During March this year, six families in Selwan, Sheikh Jarrah, and the old city of Jerusalem lived in fear as they were threatened to lose their homes any time, which meant about 80 individuals might be left without homes and evicted completely from their land.
To legalize the inhumane act of displacement, Israel aims to untrue pretexts for legitimating vandalizing and destroying the homes of Palestinians. For instance, the Israeli municipality has informed the Al-Salem family about ruining a room at their home under the pretext of illegal construction, pushing the families into destroying their homes with their hands. Otherwise, Israel does it in front of their eyes without mercy. In this regard, since 1948, over 450 villages and cities have been erased by the apartheid regime, which led to the exile of 800,000 Palestinians from their land, and more villages were wiped out in 1967 after the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, expelling hundreds of thousands out of Palestine.
These days, as every year, Palestinians might witness another Nakba in Masafer Yatta. About 1,150 Palestinians are exposed to another wave of ethnic cleansing by removing their homes at any time and turning them into Israeli settlements outposts, as Israel already has displaced 15 Palestinians and forced them to give up on their homes.
Masafer Yatta is a series of 19 Palestinian villages in the south of the West. Bank, In May 2022, the Israeli court decided on the erasure of nine villages, considered one of Israel’s biggest war crimes since 1967.
In 2021, Israel attacked the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood to evict many families and replace them with Israeli settlers forcibly. Palestinians have revolted for their land and did not relinquish their dignity by leaving their homes to Zionists. As a result, Israel captivated many youths and individuals who are still facing harsh violence in Israeli jails these days.
Families in Sheikh Jarrah still face crimes against humanity. On March 13, Israel attacked an elderly woman named Fatima whose piece of land was taken over in exchange for her current home. However, even after that, they never let her live peacefully and kept asking her to leave her home.
Palestinian rights evaporated under the extremist acts by the Israeli fascist government, and the toll of the total families who are in danger of eviction reached approximately 87 families in the Batin al-Hawa neighborhood, according to a live source. While Palestinians face true hardship and war crimes by a colonial state, we should never underplay speaking out, raising their suffering to the global, and recognizing their rights. Moreover, we should never forget that many Palestinians were martyred in raising the truth to the global, and in this matter, we should never forget Shireen Abu- Aqleh, the Palestinian journalist who was killed by Israel deliberately while she was struggling to reveal the terrorist acts by Israel in the Jenin camp on May 2022, as she previously covered the Israeli efforts to evict Palestinians forcibly from their homes in the Sheik Jarrah’s neighborhood.