1,000 Palestinians forced from their homes for Israeli military exercise in the Jordan Valley

The Israeli military ordered more than 1000 Palestinians living in the Jordan Valley to leave their homes for 48 hours to allow the army to conduct military exercise in that area, an official said Monday.

Aref Daragmeh, head of Wadi al-Maleh village council, told WAFA that the army informed the famlies living in Wadi al-Maleh, Ein Hilwa, Wadi al-Faw and al-Burj to leave their homes by Wednesday because the army wants to conduct military training in their area.
The famlies, he said, have no place to go to and so they will be living in open areas in this cold winter until they will be allowed to return to their homes Thursday night. 

This is not the first time these families, which are mainly children, women and old men, have been forced to leave their homes to make room for army traning, said Daragmeh.

The exercises are carried out with live ammunition, which usually frighten the residents, he said.

The army carries out its exercise in the Palestinian populated areas only as part of an intentional policy to force local residents to eventually leave their homes and land and relocate somewhere else.

Israel wants to empty the Jordan Valley, which makes around 40% of the West Bank area, from its Palestinian inhabitants with a goal to take it over and eventually annex it to Israel.

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