On behalf of Youth of Sumud, we urgently alert you to a dangerous and unlawful escalation in Masafer Yatta, specifically within Firing Zone 918 in the occupied West Bank.
On 18 June 2025, the Higher Planning Council issued a directive for the Firing Zone 918 to all its subcommittees authorizing the rejection of demolition objections and planning procedures based solely on a military commander’s notice dated 17 June 2025. This notice, which remains undisclosed to the public, claims that military training is now required across the entirety of Firing Zone 918.
This signals the de facto annulment of all ongoing legal channels and planning procedures, including detailed plans, precautionary orders, hearings, and permit requests submitted by residents of the communities of Sfai, Al-Majaz, Jinba, Taban, Tuba, Al-Halawah, Al-Markez, and Al-Fakhit, as well as in other villages located in the Firing Zone 918 with pending cases. We now anticipate a wave of legal rejections in the coming days, particularly in Al-Majaz, Sfai, Jinba, and Tuba. Vital community infrastructure, including the schools in Sfai, Fakhit, and Jinba, is also now at imminent risk.
Despite the availability of “dry areas” that would allow for training without civilian harm and displacement, the military is invoking “necessity” with near-total impunity to justify mass displacement. No alternatives have been offered, regardless of the wet and dry areas, and residents are being left with nowhere to go.
This move amounts to the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Masafer communities by cutting them off from their private lands, grazing zones, and basic livelihoods. It is crucial to emphasize that military training can and must be conducted in alternative areas that do not require the forcible transfer of Palestinians or the destruction of civilian life and heritage.
This is not about security. The targeting of Firing Zone 918 reflects longstanding settler interests and the broader political aim of creating territorial contiguity between Ma’ale Adumim, Kiryat Arba, and Be’er Sheva. This objective undermines the viability of a future Palestinian state.
The ICJ’s July 2024 Advisory Opinion affirms that such displacement violates international law.
In light of the above, we call on diplomatic and multilateral actors to:
• Publicly denounce the planned expulsions in Masafer Yatta and the rest of the West Bank;
• Demand the immediate suspension of all demolition and displacement operations in Firing Zone 918;
• Pursue consequences for ongoing violations, including actions through the UN Security Council, the International Criminal Court, and other relevant mechanisms, and impose sanctions where appropriate.
• We urge you not to allow the ICJ’s findings to remain abstract. The forced transfer of Palestinian communities from their ancestral lands in the occupied territory is a grave breach of international humanitarian law and cannot be tolerated.
The time for principled, coordinated diplomatic intervention is now.