European foreign ministers join US in warning against ‘harmful and provocative’ demolition or evictions in West Bank village of Khirbet Susiya

EU foreign ministers have called on Israel to halt plans for the “forced transfer of population and demolition of Palestinian housing” in the West Bank village of Khirbet Susiya amid growing concerns that it may be knocked down in the coming days.

In a statement, the European foreign ministers echoed a warning delivered by the US government over the fate of the community of 350 in the south Hebron Hills.

Last week, John Kirby, a US State Department spokesman, warned that any demolition or evictions would be “harmful and provocative”. He said: “We’re closely following developments and we strongly urge the Israeli authorities to refrain from carrying out any demolitions in the village.”

Fears for the community have been growing since a visit by a senior Israeli military officer, who told villagers that 37 dwellings had been earmarked for demolition ahead of a scheduled appeal hearing on 3 August.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A temporary structure that is home to some of villagers of Khirbet Susiya. Photograph: Peter Beaumont for the Guardian

The statements came as Israeli and foreign activists have protested at the site 24 hours a day in an attempt to prevent its demolition.

The case of Khirbet Susiya, which has been fighting a 20-year-long battle for survival, has become an international cause celebre, not least because of the financial support from European countries – including the UK – to the villagers.

If the demolitions go ahead it would be the third time the village has faced attempts at demolition or that its inhabitants have been forced to move.

Israeli rights groups join battle to save symbol of Arab resistance to evictions Read more

That prospect has been intensifying since earlier this summer, when villagers lost a case in an Israeli court attempting to block demolition of their homes.

Located in the occupied Palestinian territories, Khirbet Susiya is in Area C under full Israeli control and squeezed between two settlements – Susiya settlement – and an archaeological site run by settlers.

In 1986, villagers were expelled from their cave houses on the archaeological site.

The army expelled the residents again in 2001 during the second intifada – a short time after Palestinians killed an Israeli from the Susiya settlement. The residents then moved to their current location on agricultural land they own.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A woman and her newborn baby inside a home in Khirbet Susiya. Photograph: Peter Beaumont for the Guardian

Although Israel claims the structures in the village are illegal, the villagers and their supporters claim that the Israeli authorities have consistently refused to give them proper planning permission or allowed them to connect to utilities, despite the fact that the neighbouring settlement has water and electricity.

Local settler leaders have made clear they would be happy if the land that is currently the site of the Palestinian homes is taken for Jewish settlement.

The present threat to Khirbet Susiya was prompted by a complaint three years ago by Regavim, a rightwing Israeli NGO, which uses the courts to insist on the demolition of Palestinian buildings it argues are illegal.

Fears for the village escalated this month when Maj Gen Yoav Mordechai, the senior Israeli military official in the occupied territories, visited the village to warn residents that demolition orders would be carried out between the end of Ramadan and 3 August. During the visit, Mordechai encouraged villagers to relocate voluntarily to a parcel of private land close to the city of Yatta.

That intention was made clear in a letter sent to villagers by the Israeli military authorities after Mordechai’s visit, which read: “In light of your update concerning the intention to reach a solution on this subject, please find enclosed a list of the illegal buildings constructed in violation of the orders, and which you are requested to evacuate independently.”

Many of the homes due for destruction belong to the extended Nawaja family, who believe they are being singled out by the authorities for speaking out against the demolition orders.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Villagers in Khirbet Susiya live in temporary structures in family groups separated over hilltops in the south Hebron Hills and subsist on sheep farming, bee keeping and selling embroidered goods. Photograph: Peter Beaumont for the Guardian

Among them is Nasser Nawaja, a spokesman for the villagers. He said: “[Gen] Mordechai came and said he wanted to meet with the villagers to make an offer. He said you have lost in court. I’m coming here to propose a humane solution. He said ‘We’ll give you another place where you can build and do what you want but you cannot build here.’”

Nasser and other villagers insist, however, they have not been given any details of the proposed alternative and point out that they own the land on which they are living.

Campaigners and villagers believe the solution will involve the villagers being moved from Area C – a part of the occupied West Bank under full Israeli control following the 1993 Oslo Accord – to Area A, which is under full Palestinian civil and security control. Diplomats say the population transfer is illegal under international law.

“He told us initially only three houses were under threat of imminent demolition under the court order but when the Israeli authorities gave us a map of houses to be demolished it had 37 on it,” Nasser said. “Before the map was produced the Israelis called one of the other villagers to ask where I lived. But on the map they got it wrong, earmarking my sister’s home.”

The case of Khirbet Susiya has taken on an increasing diplomatic significance in recent weeks, against the backdrop of fractious relations between Israel and both the US and the EU.

That has been underlined by comments made both by Kirby at the State Department and senior EU officials and diplomats.

Kirby made clear that the consequences of an Israeli demolition of Khirbet Susiya would be viewed by the Obama administration in the context of continuing illegal settlement construction in the same region.

The UK government has been equally outspoken in its opposition.

“The British government’s position against displacement of communities in Area C is clear,” wrote Alastair McPhail, the British consulate-general in Jerusalem last month.

“Demolitions of property and the evictions of entire communities from their villages cause great suffering to ordinary Palestinians and are harmful to the peace process. They are, in all but the most limited circumstances, contrary to international humanitarian law.”

The settler movement, which has considerable influence with Binyamin Netanyahu’s rightwing government, is pushing for the demolitions to be carried out promptly, saying there is no further legal impediment.

Local settler leader Yochai Damri points to the archaeological site and evidence of an ancient synagogue to argue that the Jews were there first.

The Israeli vice -prime minister, Silvan Shalom, told Reuters the government was abiding by the court’s decision in the same way as when the judiciary ordered it to evacuate Jewish settlers.



“If the supreme court has authorised the decision to evacuate people, it’s something we should do. We have evacuated Israelis [settlers] as well as Palestinians that are staying on land that does not really belong to them, so it’s not something we are doing with the Palestinians only,” he said.