Settlers threaten to burn homes of those who sleep in West Bank area

Ras Ein al-Auja Village in Occupation Crisis

The Palestinian village of Ras Ein al-Auja, located in the eastern West Bank’s Jericho governorate, has faced significant challenges due to Israeli settler activities. The village, which was once home to a large number of herding communities, has seen its sheep stolen or sold off by settlers or villagers under pressure.

According to local resident Naif Ghawanmeh, 450 out of 650 Palestinian inhabitants have fled their homes since the start of this year due to violence by Israeli settlers. The village’s water supply has also been cut off, with the Ras Ein spring declared off-limits for the past year.

In recent weeks, most of the community’s homes have been dismantled, and many families have burned their furniture before leaving. Ghawanmeh stated that “everyone left” from the village, citing a lack of alternative living arrangements.

This displacement marks one of the largest expulsions from a single Bedouin community as a result of Israeli settler violence in modern times. The incident has been met with celebrations by the encroaching settlers and has left many families without shelter, livelihoods, or community.

The rapid growth of settlement outposts across the West Bank has enabled settlers to carry out these actions. According to international law, occupying powers like Israel are prohibited from moving their own civilian populations into occupied territories. However, settlements and outposts have been largely tolerated and protected by Israeli forces in recent years.

In December, 19 new settler outposts were retroactively approved by the Israeli government as official settlements. The number of settlements and outposts in the West Bank has increased by nearly 50 percent since 2022, with shepherding outposts becoming a more recent phenomenon.

These outposts mimic the Bedouins’ way of life but are run by settlers using animal grazing to overrun Palestinian shepherds and seize their lands. According to the Israeli NGO Kerem Navot, these settlers have taken over about 14 percent of the West Bank since April 2024.

Source: Al Jazeera