Jerusalem News -
Israeli occupation forces stormed the Jabal al-Baba area in the town of al-Eizariya, east of occupied Jerusalem, on Tuesday, amid a heavy military deployment. They began delivering dozens of demolition and eviction notices to homes and residential facilities belonging to Palestinian families in the Bedouin community.
Local sources reported that occupation forces had surrounded the area since the morning hours before distributing demolition and eviction orders to residents, a move described as part of a systematic campaign aimed at emptying the area of its original inhabitants for the benefit of settlement expansion.
Residents warn of a humanitarian disaster
In statements to our correspondent, a number of Jabal al-Baba residents confirmed that these measures are part of an ongoing policy of restrictions aimed at forcibly displacing them from their lands. One resident said: “We have been living for years under a plan to uproot us from our land. If the demolition orders are implemented, we will be homeless, which would mean a real humanitarian disaster.”He added that the residents are clinging to their right to remain on their lands despite the pressures.
Jabal al-Baba is part of the E1 settlement project.
Jabal al-Baba is one of the Bedouin communities threatened with removal as part of the Israeli settlement project known as "E1." The project aims to expand the Ma'ale Adumim settlement and connect it to Jerusalem, isolating the northern West Bank from the south and severing the geographical connection between Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, a move that directly threatens the possibility of establishing a contiguous Palestinian state.
Experts believe that implementing this plan would "completely undermine the two-state solution," as it would transform the West Bank into isolated islands under Israeli control.
Local and international human rights warnings
For its part, human rights organizations warned of the consequences of this step, stressing that the demolitions and evictions targeting the Jabal al-Baba community constitute... A flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, which prohibits the forced displacement of populations under occupation.
A Palestinian human rights organization said in a statement: “What is happening in Jabal al-Baba is not merely administrative measures, but a systematic policy aimed at changing the demographic reality on the ground in favor of settlement, which amounts to a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention.”.
In the same context, the United Nations and the European Union have previously called on the occupation authorities to halt the E1 plan, warning that proceeding with it would destroy any hope of a just political solution.
With the continued distribution of demolition and eviction notices and the escalating pressure on the residents of Jabal al-Baba, the Bedouin community is facing one of the most dangerous phases of forced displacement in the West Bank, with no indication of effective intervention to halt this policy that threatens the geographic and demographic fabric of Palestine.