Bedouin families flee West Bank homes after settler harassment, with UN reporting record violence and thousands displaced since the Gaza war began.
AL–HATHRURA: Ahmed Kaabneh was determined to stay on his family’s ancestral land despite relentless harassment from Israeli settlers.
When settlers built a shack near his home and began intimidating his children, the 45-year-old said he had no choice but to flee.
His departure left the small Bedouin community in the central occupied West Bank completely empty.
“It is very difficult… because you leave an area where you lived for 45 years,” Kaabneh told AFP from his new makeshift home north of Jericho.
He described a stark power imbalance, stating, “They are the strong ones and we are the weak, and we have no power.”
Violence in the West Bank has soared since the Gaza war began in October 2023.
The UN reported that some 3,200 Palestinians from Bedouin and herding communities have been displaced since then due to settler violence and movement restrictions.
October 2024 was the worst month for settler violence since UN records began in 2006.
Almost none of the perpetrators have been held accountable by Israeli authorities.
Kaabneh now lives with four brothers and their families 13 kilometres from their original homes.
He said life in the new location is hard and does not feel like home.
The number of settler outposts has exploded across the West Bank alongside the surge in violence.
All Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law, and outposts are also prohibited under Israeli law.
Many outposts are later legalised by the Israeli authorities.
An AFP visit weeks before Kaabneh’s flight revealed a new outpost marked by caravans and an Israeli flag on a nearby hill.
The wreckage of another abandoned Bedouin compound lay in the valley below.
Kaabneh described the situation then as “terrifying,” with daily harassment making life almost untenable.
He said settlers would shout all night, throw stones, and walk through the middle of the houses.
“They didn’t allow us to sleep at night, nor move freely during the day,” he added.
The abandoned homes are now visited only by activists and the occasional cat.
Israeli activist Sahar Kan-Tor said they monitor the property to prevent looting by settlements.
Settlers were seen dismantling their hilltop shack and replacing it with furniture.
Kan-Tor explained that settlers “thrive on chaos” in what he called “a land without laws.”
A December 2023 report by Israeli watchdogs said settlers had used shepherding outposts to seize 14% of the West Bank in recent years.
NGOs Peace Now and Kerem Navot said settlers acted “with the backing of the Israeli government and military.”
Some members of Israel’s right-wing government are settlers themselves.
Far-right ministers have publicly called for the West Bank’s annexation.
Kan-Tor believes settlers target this area due to its significance for a future contiguous Palestinian state.
Kaabneh said the threat of attacks looms even in his new location in the eastern West Bank.
Settlers have already driven near his family’s new homes and watched them from a hill.
“Even this area, which should be considered safe, is not truly safe,” Kaabneh lamented.
He concluded, “They pursue us everywhere.” – AFP
