Statement by the EU Spokesperson on Evictions in Masafer Yatta (Non-UN Document)

This is a non-United Nations document. The United Nations provides these documents only as a convenience for reference purposes, and the inclusion of a document does not imply the endorsement of its content by the United Nations.

The Israeli Supreme Court issued last week (May 4) a decision on the Masafer Yatta eviction case in the South Hebron Hills in the occupied West Bank, increasing the risk of the forced transfer of some 1,200 Palestinians and the demolition of their homes.

Settlement expansion, demolitions and evictions are illegal under international law. The EU condemns such possible plans and urges Israel to cease demolitions and evictions, in line with its obligations under international humanitarian and international human rights law. The establishment of a firing zone cannot be considered an “imperative military reason” to transfer the population under occupation.

Furthermore, the EU recalls that demolitions and evictions, forced transfers including of Bedouins, severely threaten the two-state solution and will only escalate an already tense environment from which no one can truly benefit and which only further deteriorates the situation on the ground for ordinary people on both sides.