Defend Masafer Yatta
The communities of Masafer Yatta are under constant threat of ethnic cleansing by Israeli authorities. You can read much more from our partner organisation, Stop the Wall: stopthewall.org/right2exist/masafar-yatta/
Write to your MP today and ask them to take action - sample email below. Find details of your MP here: theyworkforyou.com/mp/
Ask your MP to sign Early Day Motion 710: https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/60428/palestinians-living-in-masafer-yatta
Masafar Yatta, south of Hebron, is composed of 20 Palestinian villages. Palestinians have been living and herding their livestock there since generations. On May 4th 2022, Israeli courts gave the green light for the demolition of 8 of these villages (hamlets), home to some 1300 people. Israel can now advance the ethnic cleansing of the area, annex it and further colonize it with illegal settlements.
Demolitions have already started and, if this continues, it would be the largest expulsions carried out by Israel since the occupation of the West Bank in 1967.
Forced evictions resulting from demolitions are a gross violation of human rights including the right to adequate housing, water, sanitation, health, education, and privacy. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) have stated that if carried out, the demolitions in Masafar Yatta could constitute a war crime.
The very construction of Israeli settlements on Occupied Palestine has been repeatedly declared illegal by the United Nations as well as the major political parties in the UK.
Recent reports by the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch amongst others document and confirm that Israel imposes a system of oppression and domination against Palestinians across all areas under its control in Israel and the OPT, and against Palestinian refugees that amounts to apartheid as prohibited in international law. Removals of Palestinians, or ethnic cleansing such as in Masafer Yatta, are a core element of Israel’s regime of apartheid.
Silence and failure to take any action to censure Israel or hold it to account, can only amount to complicity with these crimes. As my MP, I am calling on you to uphold your own Party policy against illegal Israeli settlements and act urgently to;
· Voice your dissent against these shocking crimes against humanity and demand the immediate end of expulsions and demolitions in Masafer Yatta. Sign Early Day Motion 710
· Demand a UN investigation of Israeli apartheid and the reactivation of its mechanisms to end apartheid.
· Demand basic accountability mechanisms and targeted sanctions against Israel, such as an end to military and security relations or a ban on trade with the illegal settlements.
· Support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction campaigns to pressure corporations and institutions to stop legitimising or enabling Israeli apartheid policies.