Israel’s controversial plan to resettle the Palestinians of the Susiya community moves forward following high court ruling

• The resettlement–the third such kind of the Khirbet Susiya community in the last thirty years–involves expropriating the land from the Palestinians, who Israeli rights groups note have had documentary claims to it since 1830.
• The Israeli government claims that while the Palestinians may own the land, they do not have the proper building permits; residents argue that the government rarely grants permits to non-Jews in Area C, where Susiya is located.
• Similar to the Australian government’s arguments for indigenous resettlement, the Israeli government states that the displaced Palestinians will find better economic opportunity in their new location, a claim discredited by residents.

“Since the court ruling, people here have gone to bed not knowing whether the bulldozers would come in the morning. It is like trying to balance on a chair with only one leg and not knowing when you will fall off. People here are living on edge.”

More on this story at The Guardian.

(Image Credit: Peter Beaumont for the Observer, via The Guardian)