Village of MRSCP emergency cave project Is at imminent risk of erasure

The village Khallet al Dabaa in Masafer Yatta [Khallet ad-Daba’a on Google Maps, Khallet Athaba’ on the UN OCHA map] is at imminent risk of erasure and needs our help. Please write or call Congress and the State Department to ask for pressure on Israel to remove the settlers from the village. A sample letter or script is below. Ask your friends and contacts to join you in the effort.

Settlers have established a new outpost above the village following the military destruction of most of the village’s homes, and are using large flocks of animals to occupy the land. Settlers have built a large tent and are occupying the village’s remaining homes. Villagers have appealed to Israeli authorities but there has been no Israeli intervention. 

The establishment of this outpost is a disaster for Palestinian residents and very strategic for Israel — it puts an outpost in the middle of Palestinian villages, takes control of all the roads and water, and greatly increases the threat level to all the surrounding villages. 

Khallet al Dabaa lies inside the area claimed by Israel as firing zone 918, in which all villages have demolition orders. The construction of this new settler outpost is being allowed and supported by the same Israeli authorities that seek to evict all Palestinian residents. 

Here are photos and video of the invasion of the village.

Thank you!!
Cassandra 

Here is a sample letter or script. Feel free to edit it, but please focus on asking for the immediate removal of Israeli settlers from Khallet al Dabaa.

Dear [Senator / Representative / U.S. Consulate Official],

As a US citizen deeply concerned about human rights and justice, I am writing to ask you to use your influence to ask for the immediate expulsion of Israeli settlers from the Palestinian village of Khallet Ad Daba.

The situation now unfolding in Khallet al-Dabaa, a small Palestinian village in the South Hebron Hills of the West Bank, part of the area known as Masafer Yatta, is desperate, and without intervention will likely lead to erasure of the village. 

Recently, the Israeli military carried out demolitions in Khallet al-Dabaa, destroying homes, animal shelters, and agricultural structures. These demolitions left dozens of people—most of them children—without shelter or protection, as part of a deliberate campaign to forcibly uproot them from their land where they have lived and cultivated for generations. These demolitions were carried out under the pretense of lacking building permits—permits which are nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain under the discriminatory planning regime imposed in Area C of the occupied West Bank.

These demolitions are not isolated incidents. They form part of a broader, systematic attempt to forcibly transfer Palestinians from their land in Masafer Yatta, particularly within what is designated by the Israeli military as “Firing Zone 918.” This zone encompasses multiple villages and was the subject of a controversial 2022 Israeli Supreme Court ruling, which many human rights organizations condemned as enabling the ethnic cleansing of over 1,000 residents.

Just this past week, settlers illegally seized a cave in Khallet al-Dabaa and established a new outpost. Following the takeover, settlers released hundreds of livestock around Palestinian homes, harassed residents, and roamed the village throughout the night. Their actions terrorized families, especially women and children, who were left feeling unsafe in their own homes.

As an American, I am deeply troubled that my tax dollars continue to support an ally engaged in what many international legal experts describe as violations of international law—including the prohibition of forced displacement and the protection of civilians under occupation.

I respectfully urge you to:

•Demand that Israeli authorities immediately expel the settlers from the village of Khallet al Dabaa and allow the village’s Palestinian residents to return.

• Publicly condemn the recent demolitions and settler violence in Khallet al-Dabaa and the wider Masafer Yatta region.

• Demand that the Israeli government halt all demolitions and settler expansion in the occupied Palestinian territories.

• Use your influence to protect Palestinian communities facing expulsion and to ensure accountability for violations of international human rights standards.

The people of Khallet al-Dabaa deserve to live in peace, safety, and dignity on their ancestral land. I urge you to stand with them and to act now, before more irreversible harm is done.

Sincerely,

• How to contact Congress
• Online form to contact US State Dept