RAMALLAH – The Israeli occupation authorities on Tuesday forcefully evacuated nine Palestinian families from their homes in northern Jordan Valley, a Palestinian official said. Aref Daraghmeh, the head of Wadi Al-Malih village's council and in charge of Palestinian Bedouins affairs n the Jordan Valley, said that the Israeli authorities evacuated the families from the al-Burj and al-Bizeik areas to make way for Israeli military training. Daraghmeh said that hundreds of Israeli soldiers and military jeeps were participating in the exercise. He added that the “Israeli army usually leaves bombs and explosives that endangers the lives of local residents and mainly the children.” The Israeli Civil Administration, an Israeli military department responsible for coordinating civil issues between Israeli government and the Palestinians, distributed eviction orders to some 250 Palestinian families in the Jordan Valley in recent months under the pretext that their homes are located in or near areas designed as “firing zones”. Daraghmeh said the eviction of Palestinian families from their homes and agricultural lands in the Jordan Valley “aim at confiscating their lands for the expansion of Jewish settlements in the area.” He added that around 18 percent of West Bank land is a closed military area for the purposes of military training, often termed “firing zones”. Daraghmeh said that the majority of these zones are located in the Jordan Valley and along the eastern slopes of the Bethlehem and Hebron Governorates. More than 5,000 Palestinians reside in such areas in around 38 communities, mostly Bedouin or herding communities, many of which existing before the areas were designated as closed military zones The Palestinian Authority wants these areas be part of the future Palestinian state.
