Skip to content
Menu

UN dismayed at the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to forcibly deport Palestinians from the Masafer Yatta area

Less than 1 minuteReading Time: Minutes

News briefing

Translated and edited by: Committee for Justice

Geneva: 17 May 2022

UN experts called on the Israeli authorities and the international community, as a matter of urgency, to stop the forced evictions, arbitrary displacement and forcible deportation of Palestinian communities from Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank.

In a statement issued by the Media Center of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the experts said: “Following the judgement of the Israeli High Court of Justice earlier this month, around 1,200 Palestinian residents of Masafer Yatta, including 500 children, face imminent risks of forced evictions, arbitrary displacement and forcible transfer, in serious breach of international humanitarian and human rights laws.”

“We are monitoring with concern the latest information indicating that the Israeli forces have demolished structures in the Masafer Yatta communities of Khribet al Fakhiet and al-Markez. These demolitions place them at immediate risk of forcible transfer.”

End of judicial attempts

On May 4, the Israeli Court of Justice rejected the appeals against the eviction orders issued against the Palestinian residents of Masfer Yatta, the area designated as a closed military training site “Firing Zone 918”, effectively ending legal procedures that have lasted for more than two decades, and allowing Israeli forces to clear the area and use it for military training.

Forced displacement is a war crime

The experts added: “By upholding this policy to drive Palestinians out of Masafer Yatta, the Israeli judicial system has given carte blanche to the Israeli Government to perpetuate the practice of systematic oppression against Palestinians.

“This is all the more disconcerting, as it is done to allow Israeli military trainings in the area. How can this be given priority over the rights of the Palestinian residents? Israel has shown no ‘imperative military necessity’ to vacate the area. The displacement of the Masafer Yatta communities may thus amount to a war crime.”

The experts were particularly concerned that the Court narrowly interpreted the definition of “forced transfer” prohibited under international humanitarian law, unjustifiably dismissing the importance of core provisions of international law in the domestic context.

An Israeli rejection of the rules of international law

“Dismissing, as not relevant or not binding, norms and principles that are foundational of international law is a worrisome indication that the Israeli judicial system is supportive of laws and practices that have progressively crystallized the subjugation of the Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory,” the experts said.

“A Court that does not provide justice based on international norms and that perpetuates the violations of fundamental human rights of people who have been under military occupation for 55 years, becomes itself part of the structural system of oppression.”

The experts also called on the international community to take steps to prevent the forced deportation of Masafer Yatta residents.

“The international community must not become complicit to this serious violation of international humanitarian and humanitarian laws by remaining silent: it must exert available diplomatic, political and economic measures prescribed by the UN Charter to bring Israeli violations to a halt.”

For more information and media requests or inquiries, please get in touch with us (+41229403538 / media@cfjustice.org)

Subscribe to our Newsletter!

Be the first to get our latest Publication