RAMALLAH — The Israeli occupation authorities on Saturday dismantled the Palestinian Kan'an tent village near the West Bank city of Hebron. Mohammed Braijiyyeh, the spokesman of Popular Committee to Defend Lands in Bethlehem, said that Israel troops arrived at the scene and dismantled the small village, located between Hebron and Bethlehem cities, evacuating some 50 Palestinian and foreign activists. Braijiyyeh said that the Israeli soldiers confiscated the tents and transferred them to unknown locations before the bulldozers began the demolition process, the third of its kind in recent months. He added that the Israeli soldiers also surrounded the village and prevented the activists from protesting against the demolition. The spokesman added that a large military vehicle which fires skunk water was brought in. “We were told that we have 10 minutes to leave the area and that the land was a closed military zone. We did not yield of course and were immediately showered upon by heavy skunk water.” Braijiyyeh said that the Israeli soldiers then went on to attack the Palestinian and foreign activists, arresting Younis Arar, the spokesman of Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Hebron area, Yousef Abu Mariya and Mahmoud Alaeddin. He added that at least six dunams caught fire when Israeli forces fired dozens of tear gas canisters in the area. The tenet village was erected by the Palestinian activists “to protest Israel's settlement policies in the South Hebron Hills area and its decision to demolish several Palestinian villages there.” On last July, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has ordered the demolition of several Palestinian villages in the South Hebron Hills saying the territory is needed for the Israeli army training exercises. The Israeli government is seeking a High Court of Justice backing to raze the villages. The villages slated for demolition are: Masafer Yatta, Majaz, Tabban, Safa, Halaweh, Fakheit, Markez, Jinba, and Kharubeh. The Israeli defense establishment regards all of them as squatters in Firing Zone 918, even though the villages have existed since at least the 1830s. The Israeli army had declared some 30,000 dunams in the area a closed military zone back in the 1970s. Under Israeli military law, only permanent residents are allowed to remain in a closed military zone. Palestinian activists have built several tenet villages in the occupied Palestinians territories, like Bab Al-Shams, Al-Manateer and Bab al-Karamah “to emphasize the right of the Palestinians to build on the land and to prevent the building of new Jewish settlements.” The issue of settlements is one of the thorniest issues that stall the resumption of direct peace talks between Palestinian Authority and Israel which collapsed in October 2010 because Israel insisted to continue settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
