Palestinian West Bank village of Susya, slated for demolition by Israeli authorities, 2012.
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South Hebron Hills, 2012
The entire Palestinian West Bank village of Susya in the South Hebron Hills has been totally demolished four times by Israeli authorities. The village is still pending a fifth demolition order. Eight other villages in the same region - Majaz, Tabban, Sfai, Fakheit, Halaweh, Mirkez, Jinba, and Kharuba - were engulfed by an Israeli army declared "Firing Zone 918". All eight were also issued demolition orders.
The Israeli army and the Civil Administration declared the villagers as squatters in a closed military zone. The villages exist in that area since at least the nineteenth century.
Surrounded by Israeli settlements and unrecognized by Israeli administration, the Palestinian population inhabiting these villages is denied building permits, basic infrastructures and is under constant threat of harassment, demolition and eviction.
The inhabitants, comprised mainly by families known as the “cave dwellers”, struggle to survive and keep their traditional way of life among tension, settlement expansion and the threat of homelessness.As a result of constant Israeli denial for building permits and demolition threat by Israeli authorities, the villagers have been forced to live in tents for decades. Regardless, they have become key participants in co-resistance initiatives with Israeli activists.