JERUSALEM, March 15 (Reuters) – Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday held a hearing on petitions against a long-running attempt by the Israeli army to relocate more than 1,000 Palestinian residents from a rural part of the occupied West Bank she has designated for military exercises.

After two decades of fruitless legal maneuvers, the High Court is expected to rule soon on the army’s decision to demolish eight small communities in a rocky, arid area in the southern West Bank near Hebron.

The petitioners say this would render more than 1,000 Palestinians homeless and endanger their distinct nomadic way of life for generations, living on agriculture and herding.

“They’ve dragged us from court to court for 22 years,” Othman al-Jabareen, one of the Palestinian petitioners, told the court. “God willing, the judges will let us stay on our land because we have no other choice.”

Israel’s state attorney said during Tuesday’s hearing: “The Israeli military has conclusively concluded the critical importance of this firing range for military training. We have considered this question many times.

The area, which covers 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) and is known to Palestinians as Masafer Yatta, and to Israelis as the South Hebron Hills, lies close to the border between the West Bank and Israel.

In 1999, the army displaced hundreds of Palestinian residents from their homes after declaring the area a firing zone. Initial petitions were filed in 2000 and a court ordered the Israeli government to allow the residents to return pending a final decision.

After repeated delays and unsuccessful mediation attempts, the government and military filed responses to Palestinian petitions in 2012.

As the case swirled around without a definitive outcome over the past two decades, Palestinian residents said they had been denied building permits, with the army demolishing any new structures, including homes, water wells and solar panels. The army, meanwhile, conducted only sporadic exercises.

Palestinians in the area also say they have struggled to connect to water and electricity networks that nearby Jewish settlements built on occupied land have access to.

“This case is not about a shooting zone, it is about taking control of a land because unlike other zones, most of this land is privately owned,” said Shlomo Lecker who, along with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, represents 200 of the Palestinian families threatened with displacement.

“In effect, it is a land expropriation without compensation.”

Outside the courthouse in Jerusalem, dozens of Israeli protesters opposed to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank since the 1967 war held placards reading “Families don’t shoot areas” and “Masafer Yatta is not a military playground”.

Reporting by Henriette Chacar Editing by Mark Heinrich

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