August 9, 2012

(JTA) – An Israeli Supreme Court judge ruled in favor of evacuating eight Palestinian villages from a military training area in the West Bank. 

The villagers have until November to appeal, the judge ruled on Wednesday. Justice Uzi Fogelman rejected petitions to lift demolition orders against 12 villages in the southern West Bank. Last month, the state agreed to allow four out of the 12 villages to remain in the area, known as training zone 918.

An injunction against the demolition orders will expire in November. The court is willing hear new petitions by the residents, Fogelman said.  

Hundreds of villagers live in zone 918, which has a surface area of some 11.5 square miles in the southern Mount Hebron region.

The state claims the villagers do not permanently reside in the area. The Israel Defense Forces may remove civilian populations from designated training areas unless they are permanent residents, according to Israeli law.

The Association of Civil Rights in Israel, which is representing the villagers in the Israeli court, says that part of the villages’ population is absent six months of the year. However, “Israel’s security forces are ignoring the significance of the six consecutive months during which the land is cultivated,” the Association said in an announcement.

Petitions on behalf of the villagers of zone 918 were first filed to the court in 1999.

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