West Bank: Settlers Exploit Gaza War to "Expel Us and Seize Our Land"

 

   Two hundred Bedouins in the village of Wadi al-Siq, east of the city of Ramallah, left their land in the West Bank on October 12th and sought refuge in the nearby village of al-Taybeh after the Israeli army gave them only one hour to evacuate. Dozens of settlers, accompanied by Israeli police and soldiers, arrived at the village. About 1100 Palestinians have been forced to leave their land over the past year and a half.

The Bedouin shepherds left their homes and fled on foot with their livestock, while dozens of settlers, along with Israeli police and soldiers, arrived at the village of Wadi al-Siq.

Representatives from the village stated that the army did not respond to several requests to postpone the evacuation.

Abu Bashar, one of the refugees, along with dozens of families in al-Taybeh in the middle of the West Bank, stated, "We pay the price for what is happening in their country," referring to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas since October 7th.

Aliya Mleihat, who lives in the Bedouin village of al-Ma'arajat between Ramallah and Jericho, emphasized, "We no longer sleep; this is a nightmare."

Mleihat fears for the residents of her village from displacement, stating, "Since the beginning of the war, we have seen the settlers carrying more weapons... It is very difficult."

She added, "We ask ourselves what will happen... We are living a second catastrophe because of the settlers and the army," referring to the Palestinian catastrophe in 1948.

"I have no other place to go... They destroyed everything."

As for Abu Bashar, who only wants to return home, he said, "I have no other place to go... All our belongings are there, the cheese we buy in large quantities, the tractors, and the solar panels."

A week after their expulsion, the army allowed the residents to return to collect their belongings, but upon their arrival, they found everything destroyed.

Abu Bashar said, "They destroyed everything... animal feed bags scattered on the ground."

Moreover, the French news agency observed looted houses, empty closets, broken children's beds, torn curtains, scattered papers, shoes, and toys on the ground. The agency's team noted the presence of civilian cars in and around the village with the Israeli flag raised on some of them.

Abu Bashar confirms that all he wants is to let them live in peace, as he can no longer bear it. He added, "There is a long-term plan to expel us and seize our land. They seized this opportunity while everyone was watching what was happening in Gaza."

"Ethnic cleansing of the area... and the army does not intervene."

On the other hand, Israeli human rights activist Guy Hirschfeld explained to the French news agency that settlers have intensified their efforts to expel Palestinians from their lands since the beginning of the war.

He added, "Settlers exploit the war to complete the cleansing of Area C of non-Jews," referring to the lands classified as Area C or Zone C under the 1993 Oslo Accords signed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which constitute 61% of the West Bank's territory.

Hirschfeld also pointed out that an area of 150 square kilometers in the West Bank has already been depopulated. He considered this "ethnic cleansing of this area."

Settlers receive strong support from the far-right coalition government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while they do not enjoy similar popular support.

Chairwoman of the West Bank Protection Alliance, Allegra Pacheco, stated that the Israeli army, which is heavily deployed in the West Bank, "does not always intervene in settler violence."

Pacheco added that the presence of settlers usually leads to an escalation of violence.

The West Bank has witnessed an escalation in violence, with more than a hundred people killed in clashes between Palestinian youth, the Israeli army, and settlers since the beginning of the war.

More than 490,000 settlers live in the West Bank in settlements deemed illegal under international law.

Daily incidents of violence against Palestinians, including harassment, theft, and assault, are recorded in the West Bank, according to the British newspaper "Daily Mail" and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

It is worth mentioning that in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, 7607 people, more than half of them children, have been displaced since the start of the current war, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. About 1100 Palestinians have been forced to leave their land over the past year and a half.