(MintPress) — Eight Palestinian villages were ordered to be destroyed by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak this week, at the same time that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed an interest in working toward peace and a hope that the goals of the Arab Spring will flourish.

However, civil rights groups in Israel, who have been working to prevent the razing of the villages which have been in existence for over 100 years, say that the Palestinians whose homes and way of life will be destroyed by the order have fallen prey to an intimidation campaign as Israel seeks new land to construct Israeli settlements.

A history of the area in question

The small Palestinian village of Khirbat Zanuta, located in the southern hills of Hebron, is home to 39 families. These families, most of whom were born and raised in the village, earn their living farming sheep.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel pointed out in a release about the village that it has been settled for several generations, dating to a time well before Israel’s occupation of the West Bank in 1967.

Historically the villagers lived in natural caves augmented by stone entryways, but as the caves became uninhabitable in the 1980s, the villagers built stone houses covered with tin and plastic roofs and in other temporary structures. They continue to use the caves, however, along with external pens, to shelter their sheep.

Evacuation orders for the villages were first issued in 1999, but later frozen by an injunction issued by the High Court of Justice, after the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and attorney Shlomo Lecker, who represented 200 families, moved to block the order.

Then, in 2007, Israeli Civil Administration issued demolition orders on the majority of the buildings in Zanuta, stating that they believed the structures to be illegal because they were built without permits.

At that time, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, on behalf of the village residents, also petitioned the High Court for relief and the court issued a temporary restraining order.

“The case exemplifies a policy of demolishing buildings in Palestinian villages that removes indigenous peoples from their lands in absolute violation of the international law which protects them,” the Association for Civil Rights in Israel said in a statement about the case.

In April of 2012, additional orders for demolition were issued by the Civil Administration, and arguments over the case will be heard before the country’s Supreme Court on July 30.

“The case of Zanuta is demonstrative of the Israeli government’s planning policy as it relates to the Palestinians in Area C, in which actions as severe as the destruction of basic humanitarian structures are justified by an absurd Catch 22 that penalizes residents for failing to apply for a permit they could never have been granted. If these demolition orders are carried out, the residents of Zanuta will be stripped of their most basic humanitarian rights: shelter, water, and livelihood, not to mention dignity, culture, and way of life.”

Netanyahu’s message

News of the government’s decision came just as Muslims in Israel and across the world prepared to celebrate Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar which commemorates the revelation of the Quran, the most holy book within Islam.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a video message to the Muslim community wishing them an “easy” month of Ramadan, as the holy month is marked by fasting in order to cultivate sympathy for the less fortunate and thankfulness and appreciation for God’s bounties, as well as giving to charity.

“We are witnessing now a very dramatic moment in human history, and in the history of the Middle East,” Netanyahu began his address as saying. “We are witnessing the ‘Arab Spring’ and we all want it to flourish and succeed. I know it’s true for the people of Israel, who know the taste and the meaning of democracy and they can serve as a beacon for their brothers in this vast area,” he said.

“We mark this important month [Ramadan] amid attempts to achieve direct peace talks with the Palestinians and to advance peace treaties with our Arab neighbors,” Netanyahu said.

“I know you are partners in this goal and I ask for your support both in prayers and in any other joint effort to really create a peaceful and harmonious coexistence,” he said in the video.

However, in removing the 1,500 residents of the West Bank villages, the Israeli Defense Ministry will construct an area to conduct training and firing exercises for the military. Despite the fact that the villages have existed prior to 1976, Israeli officials say the land is an “Area C,” meaning its under the complete control of Israel.

Military training that occurs on the land will include firing exercises, which is strictly forbidden in areas where people live nearby, not for humanitarian reasons, but because the Israeli government believes they may spy on the exercises or steal weapons to use for “terror purposes.”

Israeli officials have said that they’ll allow the residents to work their lands and graze their flocks there when the IDF is not training — on weekends and Jewish holidays – and during two other periods of one month each during the year, Ha’aretz reports.

Israel, which maintains that there are no permanent residents in the area, plans to relocate the residents to the nearby town of Yatta, where the state contends that most of those being moved have homes.

However, human rights groups B’Tselem and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel have presented evidence that suggests the villagers have lived in homes of chiseled stone, as natural outgrowths of the cave-dwellings, for generations.

The state will submit its final ruling on the matter Sunday.