Ahead of a hearing by the High Court of Justice on the petition by hundreds of residents of the Massafer Yatta region in the South Hebron Hills against their eviction from their homes, a collection of renowned Israeli authors and law professors have signed a petition to prevent the expulsion. Twenty-four authors and twenty-five professors of law signed the separate petitions.
The petitions are copied in full below.
For more information on the villages in Firing Zone 918, including ACRI’s petition to prevent their destruction, click here.
Authors’ petition (written by David Grossman):
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For the past 20 years, Israel has been actively expelling and displacing the inhabitants of the south Hebron hills villages
These villagers have always practiced a unique lifestyle: Most of them are cave dwellers and find their livelihood in sheep and goat herding and small crop farming
Over these years they have suffered from constant abuse by the army and by settlers. Homes are destroyed again and again, their cisterns are blocked and their crops are destroyed.
1000 people, adults and children alike, who live in 8 villages in the area specified in 1980 as Firing Zone 918, are now threatened with immediate eviction from their villages. They live in constant fear, helplessly facing a ruthless power that does everything to displace them from the home they have inhabited for centuries
Currently, their plight is being discussed by the High Court of Justice.
We turn to those who can still hear:
We cannot bring peace today. But the least we can do is to expose and condemn ‘small’ local outrages,
In a reality of ongoing occupation, of solid cynicism and meanness, each and every one of us bears the moral obligation to try and relieve the suffering, do something to bend back the occupation’s giant, cruel hand
Signatories: Shimon Adaf, Nir Baram, Assaf Gavron, David Grossman, Natan Zach, Alon Hilu, A. B. Yehoshua, Eyal Magad, Ronit Matalon, Sami Michael, Salman Masalha, Joshua Sobol, Amos Oz, Haviva Fadia, Alona Kimhi, Yehoshua Kenaz, Yoram Kaniuk, Etgar Keret, Sayed Kashua, Dorit Rabinyan, Zeruya Shalev, Meir Shalev |
Law Professors’ Petition:
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We, Israeli professors of law, protest the intention to expel the Palestinian population which resides in the caves of the South Hebron Hills (In the area declared as “Firing zone 918”).
The ejection of families from their lands, where they have been retaining a unique way of life for many generations, is in harsh violation of their human rights and of international humanitarian law.
We give credence to the legal opinion authored by our colleagues, professors Eyal Benvenisti, David Kretzmer and Yuval Shani, and call upon the state of Israel to uphold its legal and moral commitments.
Signatories: Prof. Orna Ben-Naftali, Prof. Leora Bilsky, Prof. Michael Birnhack, Prof. Yishai Blank, Prof. Tomer Brody, Prof. Yossi Dahan, Prof. Guy Davidov, Prof. David Enoch, Prof. Chaim Gans, Prof. Aeyal Gross, Dr. Daphna Hacker, Prof. Alon Harel, Dr. Guy Harpaz, Prof. Michael Karyanni, Prof. Roy Kreitner, Prof. Shai Lavi, Prof. Kenneth Mann, Prof. Menachem Mautner, Prof. Fania Oz-Salzberger, Prof. Uriel Procaccia, Prof. Izzy Rosen-Zvi, Prof. Ilan Saban, Prof. Eli Salzberger, Dr. Yofi Tirosh, Prof. Neta Ziv |
Related Materials
- Interactive Q&A Page on Firing Zone 918.
- Information on ACRI’s petition before the High Court of Justice
- Detailed Information Sheet on the background of Firing Zone 918
