Firing Zone 918 – What’s the Deal?

Masafer-Yatta (Yatta District) is located in the South Hebron Hills. The army designated 30,000 hectares of land in this area as “Firing Zone 918”. The residents of this area are descended from Yatta residents who couldn’t afford to buy property or land in the town of Yatta itself, and had to find housing and a source of livelihood in the surrounding lands. The process of leaving the towns to live in the surrounding areas began in the early 19th century. From that day, the rural villages and the town of Yatta have become inter-dependent. On the one hand, the villages are entirely reliant on the main town for medicine, primary education and provisions. On the other hand, the town is fueled by the agricultural produce – dairy produce and meat – provided by the residents of the rural districts.

Residents of Masafer-Yatta have lived a unique lifestyle for many generations. Residents are often called the “cave dwellers”, since many of them live close to ancient caves that exist in the area or were carved by their fathers. Some live in the caves themselves or use them for storage and housing animals. Residents earn a living by herding sheep and engaging in agriculture. Approximately 1,300 people living in the area designated as Firing Zone 918.

The state announce that part of the area of Masafer-Yatta would be designated a closed military training zone (“Firing Zone”) as far back as 1980. Almost two decades later, in 1999, residents were issued evacuation orders and 700 of them were placed on trucks and removed by force. In 2000, following an interim injunction by the Supreme Court, the evacuation was halted and the residents were allowed to return to their homes. Since then, the situation has remained stagnant: residents continued to reside in the area under the threat of expulsion, while the army has been forbidden to train with live fire or damage the residents’ fields, livestock or produce. In 2012, after years without progress, the courts ‘revived’ the case, set a time for a hearing, and the state published the Defense Minister’s new position on the issue: the limits of the firing zone would be slightly reduced, but even under the new formulation, about 1,000 men and women would be evacuated from their homes.

Existing military law forbids expelling permanent residents from a firing zone. However, the state claims that most of the residents of Masafer-Yatta are not permanent residents, but seasonal residents, and as such the prohibition does not apply to them. In the distant past, 200 years ago, settlement in the area was indeed a seasonal affair in accordance with the agricultural timetable. But over the years the caves became permanent homes for a large proportion of families, especially the poorer ones. Today about 1,000 people live in the area on a permanent basis. In addition to them, family members from the town of Yatta and other villages outside the firing zone join them during the planting and harvesting seasons to help work the land.

The Defense Ministry has proposed a “compromise” whereby they would allow the evacuated residents of the villages to graze their sheep and cultivate their land on Saturdays and Israeli holidays as well as two month-long periods each year. This proposal does not take into account the continuity required for sheep-herding, and especially ignores the fact that they are talking about these residents’ homes, and they have no where else to live. The livelihood of the residents depends on their physical proximity to their pastures and farmlands. Forcibly transferring them to another area would leave them with nothing.

The deportation or forcible transfer of residents of an occupied territory is absolutely forbidden under international law regardless of the motive (Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49). It is permissible to temporarily evacuate residents only in order to protect them or if their presence interferes with fighting taking place in the area. Once the danger has passed, there is an obligation to return them to their homes.

The state claims that the army requires the firing zone to maintain the readiness and fitness of combat forces, especially following the deficiencies that were uncovered in the aftermath of the Second Lebanon War and the subsequent increase in training required. However, the occupying power is not allowed to use the land of the occupied territory for general military purposes such as ‘maintaining the overall fitness of the army’ (Hague Regulations, Article 52). International law does permit the military commander to make use of the occupied territory, but only for the benefit of security needs related to the occupied territory itself. These security needs must also take into account the interests of the residents and can not disproportionately harm their rights. Furthermore, expulsion and denial of access to their homes or their land actually constitutes the confiscation of residents’ property, which is expressly and absolutely prohibited under international law (Hague Regulations, Article 46). The evacuation of the residents of “Firing Zone 918” is not designed to protect the residents themselves, nor does it serve a particular military need. Therefore the army’s use of the land, so long as it harms the residents, is completely unacceptable.