Members of Palestinian El-Hawamda family are seen in a cave in Khirbet al-Mafqara village, south of the West Bank city of Hebron, on Aug. 5, 2020. (Photo by Mamoun Wazwaz/Xinhua)
by Sanaa Kamal
RAMALLAH, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- It has been a year since Monzer Abu Arram, was forced to move into a mountain of Hebron, West Bank, after being displaced due to the Israeli settlement expansion.
The Palestinian man from the West Bank town of Khibet Jinba lives in a cave with his family members after Israeli army demolished their house.
The 48-year-old father of four said his family now lives in dire conditions without any access to water and electricity.
"Israel denies giving me any permission to rebuild my house and my kids are scared all the time because living in a cave exposes them to the potential sting of scorpions or snakes," he told Xinhua.
"Our life is tough, and Israel is working to displace us from our land in order to implement the scheme of annexation and settlement expansion and impose its control on all Palestinian lands," Abu Arram's wife Halima said.
The town of Khibet Jinba is classified as Area C.
Oslo peace accords signed between Israel and the Palestinians in 1993 had divided the West Bank into three areas, as Area A is under the full security and administrative control of the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Area B is under joined Israeli security control and PA administrative rule, while Area C is under full Israeli control.
"There is a significant and unprecedented Israeli escalation of confiscating lands and expanding settlements in Area C to impose new realities on the ground," Walid Assaf, head of the National Commission to Resist the Wall and Settlements in the West Bank, recently said.
Sameera al-Jabarin, a 38-year-old mother of six, also lives in a cave located in the town of Khirbet al-Fakhit, south of Hebron city, after Israeli bulldozers demolished her house three times.
Besides dire living conditions, al-Jabarin said she faces sporadic attacks of Israeli settlers residing in the area.
Meanwhile, Abdul Hadi Hantash, a Palestinian expert in settlement affairs in the West Bank, accused Israel of systematically working to "Judaize" Hebron.
"We are facing daily crimes against the Palestinian population in Hebron, which requires us to file lawsuits against Israel before the International Criminal Court, and urge them to issue decisions that do justice to the Palestinians," Hantash told Xinhua.
