This Sunday (July 12th) the residents of the village of Khirbet Susiya met with high-ranking officials from COGAT, the Civil Administration, and the army. The meeting was called by the Israeli authorities, and around fifty village residents attended. The officials stated that pressure by the settler organization "Regavim" and area settlers has led to a decision to carry out demolitions in the village even before the high court hearing into the residents' petition, scheduled for August 3rd.
The officials told residents that the authorities refrained from demolitions during the month of Ramadan to show consideration, but that this humanitarian respite will end with the holy month, after the holiday of 'Eid al-Fitr. Based on these statements, residents assume that demolitions could take place as early as next week.
Att. Qamar Mashraki from Israeli NGO Rabbis for Human Rights, the community's counsel, said that this kind of thinly veiled threat to demolish homes in Susiya before the planned court hearing is an unacceptable form of coercion, intended to put pressure on the residents in order to force them to leave their homes and create facts on the ground before the petition is even heard.