Israel’s High Court ruled late Wednesday night that the Israeli army could evict around 1,300 Palestinians living in eight villages in the South Hebron Hills, after a legal battle lasting more than 20 years.
In a unanimous decision, Justice David Mintz wrote that the Palestinian petitioners had not successfully proved they had lived in the villages as permanent residents before the army declared the Area A training zone in the area in the early 1980s.
No legal rights to the land means no legal rights to the land. The truth and the law about the land was adhered to. We applaud Justice Mintz for his decision effectively ending this 20-year saga. We won’t hold our breath, however, until the decision is enforced.