Ahmed Al-As'aad,
the Palestinian official monitoring settler activity in the Jordan Valley, said
that the Israeli Civil Administration, a military department responsible for
the coordination of civil affairs in the West Bank, arrived at Khirbet Yarza
and forced the residents to leave their village to a nearby area.
Mokhles
Masa’ed, the head of Khirbet Yarza village’s council, said the Israeli forces
declared the village a closed military zone to prevent the residents from
protesting against the evacuation. Khirbet Yarza is home to some 200
Palestinian who work in farming and raising sheep.
Masa’ed
said they were forces to leave the village under the pretext that their homes
“located in the middle of a military training zone.”
The
Israeli army confirmed the move. The army said the village is located in Area
C.
According
to the Oslo Agreement, Area A is under Palestinian administrative and security
control, Area B under Palestinian administrative control but under Israeli
security one, the Area C is under full Israeli control.
Meanwhile,
the Israeli police in Jerusalem was put on high alert to prevent clashes
between Palestinians and Jewish occupiers in the city.
Micky
Rosenfeld, the spokesman of Israeli police, said that 3,000 officers, including
border police and undercover units were deployed in the city to prevent
possible clashes when occupiers march through East Jerusalem to mark to mark
the anniversary of Israel’s capture of the area in 1967.
Rosenfeld
said the occupiers are expected to march the East Jerusalem’s neighborhood of Sheikh
Jarrah. The neighborhood has been the scene of repeated clashes over the last
two years due to Palestinian residents' opposition to occupiers moving there.
Israel
captured East Jerusalem in the June 1967 War, annexed it, and has since built
settlements there that are home to more than 200,000 Israelis.
Control
over the city has been seen as the most sensitive and thorniest issue of
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestinians hope to make East Jerusalem the capital
of their future state but the Israel says the city is its eternal capital,
despite a previous United Nations resolution giving the city an international
status.
Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the US Congress last week, where he
said that Israel is willing to make painful concessions for peace, but
Jerusalem will not be divided.
“Jerusalem
must never again be divided,” Netanyahu said to round of applause by the
congressmen. “Jerusalem must remain the united capital of Israel.”
