– by Erez Bleicher – 5/7/2023

Last week an international coalition hosted salon events in over 10 cities and at least five countries around the world in opposition to the slated eviction of twelve Palestinian villages in Firing Zone 918 in the occupied West Bank. Events were held in London, Venice, Edinburgh, Toronto, Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, Berlin, Bologna, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and in the occupied South Hebron Hills with Ali Awad, a resident of the village of Tuba within Firing Zone 918.

The slated eviction would be one of the largest forced expulsions of Palestinians since 1948 and an escalation in the ongoing efforts of the Israeli military to displace Palestinians in Area C of the South Hebron Hills. Members of the coalition organized the Global Salon Against Eviction In Firing Zone 918 in response to a direct call from the communities for international solidarity and emergency actions demanding the recognition of their rights  to remain in their ancestral homes with full access to water, electricity, education, and other services guaranteed under international law.

Members of the coalition said in a statement before the event that, “Following recent events broadcast around the world in Jenin, Gaza, and Huwara, this represents another key site of attention for people of conscience around the world concerned with human rights. Residents of these villages have called on us to mobilize our communities as part of a broader international campaign of solidarity.”

In the early 1980s the Israeli military declared the majority of Masafer Yatta, an area located in the South Hebron Hills in Area C of the occupied West Bank, a firing zone for military training in contravention of international law and despite the twelve villages that live and subsist within the designated area. The decision was legally contested by human rights organizations, but after two decades, on May 4th, 2022, the Israeli High Court issued a final decision permitting the army to forcibly evict these communities at a moment’s notice. 

The Global Salon Against Eviction In Firing Zone 918 has arisen in the wake of this decision and as part of a wave of international outcry in support of basic human rights and solidarity with the residents demanding to live with dignity in their homes. Ali Awad, the coordinator of the campaign and a local community advocate in Firing Zone 918, said, “Now is the time to act in defense of justice and human rights before it is too late. We need everyone in the world to know the story of Masafer Yatta. We have been living here for centuries, this is our home, and we don’t have anywhere else to go.”

You can learn more in this report about military Firing Zones as a tool of land expropriation in the occupied West Bank, and see below for pictures, information, and documentation from the various participating cities in the Global Salon Against Eviction In Firing Zone 918: