Udenrigsudvalget 2024-25
URU Alm.del Bilag 250
Offentligt
3045872_0001.png
Netta Amar-Shiff
Advocate
2 Hasoreg st. Jerusalem
Telefax: 02-6221011
Cell: +972-528-945-228
فيش
-
ورمع عطن
ةيماحم
سكافلا
2
جروسه
02-6221011
سكاف
052-894-5228
ףיש-רמע עטנ
ןיד תכרוע
םילשורי 2 גרוסה
02-6221011 :סקפלט
052-894-5228
Diplomatic Briefing
Subject: Heightened Risk of Mass Demolitions in Firing Zone 918, Masafer Yatta, South Hebron Hills
Date: 20 June 2025
Summary:
Recent measures taken by High Planning Council and the Military Commander post heightened risk of
mass demolitions of structures in Firing Zone 918 Palestinian villages. As one of the litigating lawyers in
the area I urge your government to take immediate interest in the matter to prevent irreversible
humanitarian harm, forcible displacement and ethnic cleansing of Masafer Yatta.
Key Developments:
•
On 18 June 2025, Israel’s
High Planning Council instructed its subcommittees to consider all
planning and zoning requests
in Firing Zone 918 based on the position of the Israeli military
commander
of 17 June 2025, who asserts the area is needed military trainings, wherein no
civilian spatial planning requests are approved.
This directive specifically targets old structures with pending permit requests and plans that
were submitted prior to recent amendments in the military laws and regulations starting 2020.
Scores of long-standing applications—submitted prior to regulatory changes in 2020—will now
be summarily rejected. Villages such as Sfai and Majaz, whose plans are scheduled for review on
20 July 2025, are at
imminent risk of mass demolition and displacement
unless an interim
injunction is issued by the court in subsequent legal proceedings.
An upcoming 20 July hearing
on village plans in Sfai and Majaz expediates the demolition of
these villages in their entirety
•
•
•
Legal and Humanitarian Concerns:
•
The directive appears to breach both
Israeli law
and
international humanitarian law
obligations
in the occupied West Bank, particularly protections against forced population transfer and the
extensive and unwanton destruction of civilian property without imperative necessity for
military operations under the Fourth Geneva Convention as well as the prohibition of ethnic
cleansing.
1
 URU, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 250: Henvendelse af 23. juni 2025 fra Sarah Arnd Linder om situationen på Vestbredden
3045872_0002.png
•
In fact, this directive violates the principle of legality. It illegally invalidates the applicable pre-
2020 law, circumvents standard planning procedures and
precludes any consideration of legal,
humanitarian, or planning-based arguments,
effectively stripping residents of due process.
Demolition of structures also include
villages located in the northern-western "dry area" of the
Firing Zone whereby residents are not slated for eviction.
Notably,
illegal Israeli outposts within the same zone continue to be built and remain
untouched,
raising serious concerns discriminatory enforcement but more importantly
population replacement and ethnic cleansing.
•
•
Requested Diplomatic Engagement:
I respectfully urge your government to:
1.
Seek immediate clarification
from the Israeli authorities regarding the legal basis for the High
Planning Council's directive, the intent of the Military Commanders 17 June notification, and
request data on expected impact of the directive on Palestinian villages in the Firing Zone 918
especially Sfai, Majaz, Jinba, Tuba, Fakhit, Tabban.
2.
Demand the immediate revocation of the High Planning Council's directive and an immediate
moratorium
on all demolitions in the Firing Zone, especially during the current armed conflict
with Iran and Hamas.
3.
Demand the immediate eviction of all illegal outposts in the Firing Zone 918
especially those
built and extended after the start of the Hamas-Israel war on 7 October 2023.
4.
Organize urgent diplomatic on-site visits to all threatened villages
to provide material support
that increases local resilience
5.
Monitor the upcoming 20 July hearing
on village plans in Sfai and Majaz and request observer
access.
6.
Express grave concern via appropriate diplomatic channels
regarding the imminent risk of
forcible population transfer and extensive mass destruction of entire villages in the Firing Zone
918 and urge adherence to legal obligations.
7. Consider
engaging the UN bodies and other governments
regarding developments on the
ground.
Sincerely,
Dr. Netta Amar-Shiff, Adv.
2