Page 6 - aruba-today-20220506

A6 WORLD NEWS
Friday 6 May 2022
Israel upholds expulsion order against West Bank hamlets

By JOSEPH KRAUSS had confirmed “that the fir-
Associated Press ing zone was duly declared
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s in accordance with the
Supreme Court has upheld Military Commander’s au-
a long-standing expulsion thority, due to military and
order against eight Pales- security needs.”
tinian hamlets in the oc- The families say they have
cupied West Bank, poten- been there for decades,
tially leaving at least 1,000 from long before Israel
people homeless, an Israeli captured the West Bank in
rights group representing the 1967 Mideast war. They
the villagers said Thursday. practice a traditional form
The verdict, issued late of desert agriculture and
Wednesday as Israel large- animal herding, with some
ly shut down for its Inde- living in caves at least part
pendence Day, marks the of the year, but say their
end of a more than two- only homes are in the hard-
decade legal struggle by scrabble communities now
Palestinians in the Masafer at risk of demolition.
Yatta region of the south- “The occupation court just
ern West Bank to maintain decided: My community
communities they say go will be destroyed,” tweet-
back decades. A stockyard that suffered damage following a settlers’ attack from nearby settlement outposts on ed Basel Adra, a prominent
“Without warning in the the Bedouin community, in the West Bank village of al-Mufagara, near Hebron, Thursday, Sept. activist from the area. “The
middle of the night, the Is- 30, 2021. Associated Press army can now place us on
raeli High Court of Justice trucks, 2,400 people, and
published a verdict with heads,” it said. area a firing and training said. The legal battle be- expel us from our ancient
unprecedented conse- Roni Pelli, an attorney at zone in the early 1980s. Is- gan the following year. villages, one by one.”
quences,” the Associa- the association, said the raeli authorities have ar- In its ruling late Wednes- The West Bank has been
tion for Civil Rights in Israel, verdict is final and it’s not gued that the residents only day, the Supreme Court under Israeli military rule for
which has represented the clear if there are any fur- used the area for seasonal sided with the state and nearly 55 years. Masafer
residents throughout the ther legal steps that can agriculture and had no said the villagers had re- Yatta is in the 60% of the ter-
process, said in a state- be taken. The forcible dis- permanent structures there jected a compromise that ritory where the Palestinian
ment. “The High Court has placement of the commu- at the time. In November would have allowed them Authority is prohibited from
officially authorized leav- nities could happen at any 1999, security forces ex- to enter the area at certain operating. The Palestinians
ing entire families, with their time, she told The Associ- pelled some 700 villagers times and practice agricul- want the West Bank to form
children and their elderly, ated Press. and destroyed homes and ture for part of the year. the main part of their future
without a roof over their The military declared the cisterns, the association The military said the ruling state. q

Sandstorm suspends flights, many Iraqis struggle to breathe

By SAMYA KULLAB sandstorm blanketed the up with the influx. Authori- and climate change. Issa al-Fayad, an official
Associated Press country, the fifth to engulf ties urged citizens to stay However, Azzam Alwash, with the Environment Minis-
BAGHDAD (AP) — Hundreds Iraq within a month. indoors. Iraqis awoke to an head of the Nature Iraq try, said Iraq could face 272
of Iraqis rushed to hospitals Iraqi state media said most ochre-colored sky and a non-profit organization, days of sandstorms a year
with breathing problems of the patients suffered re- thick blanket of dust cov- warned that “climate in the coming decades.
Thursday and the Baghdad spiratory issues as clinics ered the roads and build- change alone doesn’t give At least 700 people sought
airport suspended flights across the country’s north ings with an orange film. the whole picture” and medical care in Iraq’s west-
for several hours as a thick and west struggled to keep Visibility was low and driv- that inappropriate farming ern province of Anbar, and
ers kept car headlights on practices and mismanage- dozens more in the prov-
to see the road. ment of water resources inces of Kirkuk, Salahaddin
Flights scheduled to depart have contributed to the and Najaf, state TV report-
overnight and on Thursday problems. Climate change ed.
morning were postponed, has become a very conve- At the Sheikh Zayed Hos-
an airport official told The nient excuse for officials to pital in Baghdad, people
Associated Press, speaking avoid responsibility for not lined up outside the emer-
on condition of anonymity taking action over the last gency room and staff
because he was not autho- 20 to 40 years,” he said. stocked up on more meds
rized to talk to reporters. Desertification, resulting as weather forecasts pre-
Flights resumed by the af- from old irrigation practices dicted the storms would
ternoon, when the dust be- dating back to the Sume- continue throughout May.
gan to clear. rian age, and rising water Ayat Haitham, a nurse,
Iraq is prone to seasonal salinity are also factors, he was busy treating patients
sandstorms but experts and said. “These are policy is- but also tried to reassure
officials are raising alarm sues.” them that all the drugs
over their frequency in re- The World Bank has warned used for treating breath-
cent years, which they say that Iraq could suffer a 20% ing difficulties and also oxy-
A man walks through a sand storm in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, is exacerbated by record- drop in water resources by gen were “available in big
May 5, 2022. low rainfall, desertification 2050. quantities.”q
Associated Press