Zionist terror state’s IDF uses live-fire zones to expel Palestinians from areas of West Bank, officer admits

By Amira Hass | 08:58 21.05.14 

Officer tells Knesset committee method used to reduce illegal construction, Palestinian population in Area C; Habayit Hayehudi MK urges crack-down on international groups who assist construction — Military training in live-fire zones in the West Bank is used as a way of reducing the number of Palestinians living nearby, and serves as an important part of the campaign against Palestinian illegal construction, an army officer revealed at a recent Knesset committee meeting. Col. Einav Shalev, operations officer of Central Command, was addressing a subcommittee of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which discussed “illegal Palestinian construction in Area C” of the West Bank, and ways of expelling Palestinian residents from areas such as E1, the Jordan Valley and Susya, south of Hebron. He told those at the meeting that the goal of preventing illegal construction is one of the main reasons the Israel Defense Forces has recently increased its training in the Jordan Valley … 

IDF Gen. Yoav Mordechai, coordinator of government activities in the territories, was invited to the meeting, which took place April 27. He said his bureau complains immediately to the embassies of countries whose organizations are involved in illegal construction. “From our perspective, it’s not important who finances illegal construction,” he said. “In the past three months, the appropriate embassy has received a letter within an hour of an organization being caught building illegally.” … 

Shalev said the IDF’s policy of confiscating humanitarian equipment before it got to its destination was “a punch in the right places. When you confiscate 10 large, white and expensive tents, it’s not easy. It’s not simple to recover.” Because of the confiscation policy, the Red Cross had decided to stop providing tents to shepherd communities whose huts and barns were destroyed by the Civil Administration, he noted. The European Community and international aid organizations have devoted much of their humanitarian and diplomatic activities to Area C in recent years. As they see it, the Israeli veto on connecting communities to water, electricity and transportation infrastructure is contrary to Israel’s obligations as an occupier

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   

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