Entire Palestinian community to be evicted in occupied Quds

The Bedouin community in al-Baba Mountain, in the town of Al-Eizariya, in the occupied old city of al-Quds (‘Jerusalem’), stands steadfast in face of Israeli plans which aim to evict them, according to IMEMC.

According to Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency, not even the children are willing to wave their rights, repeating that al-Baba Mountain is “our land and we will still here.”

The Bedouin resident Khaled al-Basha, 45, said that they were shocked with the Israeli decision to evict the community as a whole.

Al-Basha described the decision as unjust and merciless.

The Israeli civil administration notified the community 10 days ago, of their impending eviction from their houses in Al-Eizariya, where 57 Palestinian Bedouin families (with a total of 300 members) reside.

The chairman of the Committee of Services of al-Baba Mountain, Attallah Mazarah, warned of the eviction order, which seeks to deport the entire community. He added that Israeli occupation authorities have already demolished some houses in the community, but the decision now states the intention to evict all.

He stressed that the inhabitants of Al-Baba, along with all Bedouin communities, will not accept a new deportation from their lands.

A lawyer of the community filed a petition with the Israeli civil administration, against the decision, last Wednesday, but the administration did not respond.

Mazarah called on the Palestinian Authority to adopt a strict stance against the Israeli policy.

An official from the Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Quds, Zakaria Ouda, said that the new Israeli measures in al-Baba are a part of the same old scheme which aims to evict the Bedouin communities, and to establish E1 settlement, which will include 12,000 settling units.

Ouda explained that the bigger plan seeks to connect 8 settlements in occupied al-Quds, separating the northern parts of the West Bank from the south. The plan will, n effect, evict and isolate many Palestinian neighborhoods.

“It is part of the Israeli plans that are named by the Israeli occupation government as ‘Greater Jerusalem’, whose borders extend to the settlements of Gush Etzion in the south, Ma’ale Adumim to the east, and Giv’at Ze’ev in the north,” he said.