Masafer Yatta: the people’s resistance

Basil Adra is one of more than 2,000 Palestinians who have consistently been under threat of ethnic cleansing in Masafer Yatta.

“We’ve always lived in the same area,” Adra told Palestine in America, “My family are some of the oldest residents in the region, many other people have been here for centuries and can trace down their lineage to prove it.” 

Adra’s family, like many others in Masafer Yatta, are threatened by the encroaching settler state, who now occupy the hills surrounding the Palestinian community. 

After a decades-long legal battle against Israel’s efforts to erase them, the Palestinian residents of Masafer Yatta will be forcibly removed from their lands following a ruling from the settler state’s so-called High Court of Justice. These Palestinian communities have resided in this region long before Israel existed, yet, they are treated as an existential threat—regularly having their homes demolished.

“Every time they come and bulldoze, we come back and rebuild. It’s expensive to keep doing this and extremely dangerous,” says Adra. 

Occupation authorities have used the pretext of establishing a live firing zone, known as "Firing Zone 918", a roughly 30-mile area of land inside the occupied West Bank, to cover their dispossession policies.

“This firing zone is a lie and is a tool used to kick us out of our land,” says Adra, who actively invites journalists to come and see what is happening for themselves. Adra is from Tuwani, which does not fall under firing zone 918 (due for imminent demolition), but his village does exist in Masafar Yatta, which falls under “Area C.”

In 1999, Israeli soldiers and trucks rode into his village and forcibly removed over 700 Palestinians from Masafer Yatta. They were dropped off in the middle of nowhere and left homeless. Israel eventually acquiesced to advocacy efforts and allowed his community to return. This time is different. The apartheid state has ramped up its efforts using violence and intimidation tactics to make life for Adra’s community unbearable. 

As a result, the residents of Masafer Yatta have dealt with daily attacks from Zionist settlers living in the colonies of Ma'on and Havat Ma'on— Adra stated that his friend was seriously injured by a settler who “violently beat him while an Israeli soldier stood by and watched.” These settlers and settlements are subsidized by the Israeli state. Israeli soldiers escort settlers in what are now daily occurrences of violence and attacks on Adra’s community. Even water and electricity access is withheld in an effort to force them to leave.

Despite these hardships, the indigenous people of the land have resisted demolitions and forcible removal.

“We continue to protest every Friday, and even though over 300 solidarity advocates were blocked from joining our protests by the occupation checkpoints…We remain committed to resist,” Adra explained. “This past Friday, many people were injured as Zionist soldiers began shooting dozens of tear-gas canisters.” 

Underneath the facade of Israeli democracy is a supreme court held by judges who themselves live in the settlements and take part in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. As judges are expected to be impartial actors, how is legitimacy cultivated if those responsible for doling out justice are the very ones culpable of removing it in the first place? 

Justice can not come from a regime that is designed to subvert everything Palestinian. Anti-Palestinian rhetoric and laws run through every vein of the Israeli judiciary. This entity routinely denies building permits and confiscates privately-owned Palestinian lands. Attempts by Palestinians to appeal the case have failed as Israel has determined that they "had not been permanent residents of the area," completely disregarding the fact that Israel was responsible for their dispossession in the first place.

Deciding to break international law, which prohibits the forcible transfer of humans in an occupied area, Israel's judicial actions serve to teach the world that they do not legally regard Palestinians as worthy of human rights. For 74 years, a long list of judiciary rulings have shown the world that Israel considers itself above international accountability, this recent ruling goes as far as to specifically mention that Israel is not bound to international law. According to Amnesty International: 

“Whether they live in Gaza, East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, or Israel itself, Palestinians are treated as an inferior racial group and systematically deprived of their rights. […] Israel's cruel policies of segregation, dispossession, and exclusion across all territories under its control clearly amount to apartheid.”

It is not just the Israeli supreme court that is rotten to its core, this is an entity that is predicated on the continual erasure of Palestinians; all of Israel is built on ethnically cleansed land. Even Palestinians with Israeli citizenship are kept out of any real agency, according to Haaretz , nine out of the top ten poorest communities in Israel are Palestinian. It’s imperative to note that behind the facade of Israeli democracy lies 74 years of waning Palestinian rights. 

However, hope is not lost as advocates and organizers worldwide have shown that bringing a situation to light allows the world's people to hold governments accountable. Adra and his community remain unyielding and committed but plead for aid from the international community.

“We want people to speak up and let their governments know. Call and send letters to your representatives. Israel will only be brought to justice if people protest and do everything in their power to hold them accountable.” he says. “People in the international community need to speak out and uplift our voices.” 

Despite losing the moral argument and their crimes coming to light, the occupation continues to violate Palestinian rights. The resistance and resilience of the people of Masafer Yatta represent the steadfastness of the entire Palestinian community. Apartheid will not fall until it is challenged at every corner; Basil Adra and the Palestinians of Masafer Yatta need our help to raise their voices and struggle for freedom.