Press Release: The ICJP Urge the ICC to Investigate Unlawful Evictions in Masafer Yatta

London/Palestine 

 

On Wednesday 4 May 2022, the Israeli High Court of Justice (HCJ) dismissed all petitions against the forcible transfer of approximately 1,000 Palestinians from eight villages in the Masafer Yatta region in the southern occupied West Bank after a two-decade legal dispute over land that has been requisitioned by the Israeli army as a firing zone, according to Haaretz Newspaper. According to the UN, Palestinian communities have been living in this area for decades, many before the Israeli occupation began in 1967.  

 

According to Haaretz, the court rejected the claim that turning the area into a closed military zone violated international law, and said that when international law contradicts Israeli law, Israeli law prevails. The case of Masafer Yatta is further proof of the State of Israel’s disregard for international law and its unwillingness to protect the rights of minority groups and other protected persons in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. 

 

The ICJP intends to add the case of Masafer Yatta to its complaint to the ICC regarding the arbitrary and unlawful destruction and appropriation of Palestinian property in the OPT. 

 

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