Occupiers plan to convert 8 Palestinian villages into mlitary training area

Israeli occupation forces have put up barricades, closing roads leading to eight West Bank Palestinian villages south of Hebron hills ahead of demolition to make way for an Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) training ground. The evacuation move follows Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak's decision to convert these villages into a military training area. The eight villages are Majaz, Tabban, Sfai, Fakheit, Halaweh, Mirkez, Jinba and Kharuba, Palestinian media said. Around 1,500 people who live in these villages are mostly farmers who live from the rearing and selling of sheep and goats, western media reported. For these villagers, leaving the expansive Hebron hills is simply not an option, one report said and quoted a local resident. "We have no choice but to be here, this is how we were raised and this is how we live," said one shepherd from Khirbat Zanuta, another village in the area whose homes, sheep pens and water cisterns have all been issued with demolition orders. "The only thing we know how to do is raise sheep. We can only do that here."