Israeli Army Orders Bedouins To Leave West Bank Areas While It Conducts Military Drill

[Purveyor]

NEWS / World
Israeli army orders Bedouins to leave West Bank areas while it conducts military drill

Surrounded by Israeli border police, Jewish settlers from the Esh Kodesh settlement outpost, sit in a field in an attempt to prevent Palestinians from farming land in the northern West Bank, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. Both the settlers and Palestinians living in the area claim ownership of the disputed land. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
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Mohammed Ballas, The Associated Press
| Jan 02, 2013 | Last Updated: Jan 02, 2013 - 4:30 UTC
The Israeli military on Wednesday ordered dozens of Palestinian Bedouins to leave their communities so it could conduct military exercises in a remote area of the West Bank.

The military said the order was temporary, and that the Palestinians were living illegally in closed military zones. The Bedouins say they have lived in the area for decades. While the army has issued temporary evacuation orders in the past, Bedouins say they have increased in frequency, and they charge the practice is meant to pressure them to leave their homes.

Israel has used largely empty areas of the West Bank for military bases, firing ranges and manoeuvrs since shortly after it captured the territory in 1967, marking off large areas for exclusive use of the military and bringing frequent complaints from Palestinians. The Palestinians claim all of the West Bank as a key part of a future state.

After receiving the latest evacuation order, one family dismantled its tents, and loaded sheep and small children onto a trailer in the community of Khirbet al-Meiteh alongside thin mattresses, pillows and blankets. "We will sleep here tonight, in this trailer," said Walid Zawahiri, 57. "There's nowhere else to go."

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http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Israeli+army+orders+Bedouins+leave+West+Bank+communities+while/7765194/story.html

[Jefferson23]

1. Talk about rushing things along, hmmm. n/t

[azurnoir]

2. oh but not to worry Israel will allow them to return to their 'illegal' structures

in a few days

The evacuation affects around 1,000 Palestinians living in rural communities around Wadi al-Maleh, local mayor Arif Daraghma told Ma’an.

They must leave their homes by Wednesday for 48 hours, or they will be subject to penalties, he said.

The orders explain that Israeli troops will be holding military drills in the area.

"To ensure the safety of the local inhabitants, temporary eviction notices were distributed today to the residents of the illegal structures located in a closed military zone to be used in the exercise," Israel's army said in a statement.

The residents will be allowed to return after the military exercises have been completed.

"It should be emphasized that these structures, located in closed military zones actively used by the IDF, are illegal in nature," the statement added.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=552377

[Tempest]

3. Are they going to stop them from returning like they did last year?

Last year Israel told Palestinian landowners the property would be inhabitable once their exercises were completed and they would not be allowed to return to it.

[King_David]

4. And then they built Churches there? nt

[Tempest]

5. Wouldn't surprise me in the least

Considering the number of Arab families being evicted in Jerusalem for the expansion of an Orthodox church.

[Violet_Crumble]

6. I think I'm missing something. What's churches got to do with things? n/t

[King_David]

7. Amongst a few other strange theories that Tempest believes

is that Israel evicted Arabs from Jerusalem to build Churches.

[Violet_Crumble]

8. I'm not seeing what any of that has to do with what Israel's doing to the Bedouin...

What's yr thoughts on the way the Bedouin are being treated?