In this episode of Occupied Thoughts, FMEP's Sarah Anne Minkin speaks with journalists Basel Adraa and Yuval Abraham about the conditions of life in Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills of the West Bank, and how things have changed - and gotten far worse - since the May 2022 Israeli Supreme Court decision that authorized the IDF to expel communities in Masafer Yatta. Basel and Yuval co-authored "The Destruction of This Palestinian Community Was Green-Lighted by Israel’s Supreme Court," the cover article in last week's The Nation magazine (July 10, 2023 edition). In the article, Basel and Yuval write “The mass expulsion of Masafer Yatta’s residents has not yet been carried out, but the lives of all the people of these villages have changed beyond recognition in the months since the ruling. Soldiers have begun detaining children at impromptu checkpoints they’ve erected in the middle of the desert under the cover of night; families watch as bulldozers raze their homes with increasing frequency; and, right next to the villages designated for expulsion and demolition, soldiers are already training with live fire, racing tanks, and detonating mines.” Their article is a joint project of The Nation, +972 Magazine, and Local Call/Sikha Mekomit.

Original music by Jalal Yacquoub.