Ma’an reports:
Hundreds of Palestinians are being evacuated from the northern Jordan Valley to make way for an Israeli military training exercise, local officials told Ma’an.
Villagers received orders this week from the Israeli army to leave their homes for the duration of the exercise, which begins on Sunday.
Aqaba and Yarza village council head Mukhlas Masaid told Ma’an on Wednesday that Ein al-Hilweh, Yarza, Ras al-Ahmar, al-Malih and al-Meiteh villages received orders, displacing a population of 1,000.
Al-Malih and al-Madareb council chief Aref Daraghmeh said 57 families in al-Hamamat, al-Burj and Humsa received the orders.
Further south, 40 families in the Jordan Valley village Khirbet Tana also received orders this week to evacuate while the army conducts training.
Daraghmeh said some families would be permitted to return after a two-day exercise, while others were told to leave their homes permanently.
He said several Israeli departments were working together to pressure Palestinians to leave the Jordan Valley in order to build Jewish settlements and military bases.
Al-Malih resident Abu Mohammad told Ma’an that despite living in the village for decades, he would leave out of fear for his safety. His house had been hit by Israeli artillery before, he said.
Researcher for the Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem Juliet Bannoura said the latest evacuation was part of a campaign since 1967 to remove Palestinians from the Jordan Valley, most of which is designated a closed military zone.
“This is a trick in order to execute a silent and final evacuation,” Bannoura told Ma’an.
I always try to imagine the outcry if what the Palestinians have to endure was the fate of a similar number of Jews. Imagine 1000 Jews in north London being evacuated from their homes because the neo fascist British National Front was in town. But it’s very hard to imagine.
palestinian villages are now defined as military zones? is obama going to sit there while thousands are ‘evacuated’. is this the preferred form of ethnic cleansing? just send an order and they pack up and leave? this is so gross i can’t stand it.
i’m sending a tweet to the state department.
Isn’t this a significant step for the US forces? Of course, the US funds the Israeli military whose day job is to protect settlers as they move into the West Bank. But until now, US forces have not been directly involved.
What’s the potential legal implications of direct participation in occupation — and possibly ethnic cleansing?
And If Islamic Jihad tell the people of Sderot to get out of town for 2 days while they refine their rocket targeting what happens?
Surely what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
strange thing just happened to me-i looked up all the names of the villages listed on google earth and none came up
i think mossad has erased the names from my google earth -anyone else have the same problem