West Bank Palestinians await more demolitions as settlers circle their homes

ALi Awad is tired.

- William Christou and Quique Kierszenbaum

The 27-year-old resident of Tuba, one of the dozen or so villages that make up Masafer Yatta in the arid south Hebron hills of the occupied West Bank, had been up all night watching as a masked Israeli settler on horseback circled his family home.

"When we saw the masked settler, we knew he wanted violence," said Awad, his eyes bloodshot. They were lucky this time - the settler disappeared into the darkness before police could show up.

The men in Masafer Yatta rarely sleep these days. They take turns standing watch at night, fearful that nearby Israeli settlers will attack under the cover of darkness.

Daylight brings little respite. Residents work with ears pricked up for the sound of approaching vehicles, scanning the horizon for Israeli bulldozers that could signal their homes are next to be demolished.

Israel designated Masafer Yatta a military training zone - known as Firing Zone 918, where no civilians can live - in 1981. It has been working since to push out the roughly 1,200 residents who remain. These residents have been fighting in Israeli courts for more than two decades to stop their expulsion, a battle that has slowed, but not stopped, the demolition of Palestinian homes.

Recently, an Israeli body issued a decision that experts have said could remove the last legal barriers for the demolition of homes here. It could lead to the forcible transfer of 1,200 people - something the UN has warned could be a war crime.

"This would amount to forcible transfer, which is a war crime. It could also amount to a crime against humanity if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack," the UN human rights office said on 26 June.