‘If you sleep, settlers will burn your house’: fear in the West Bank

Ras Ein al-Auja, occupied West Bank – When the euphony stops, Naif Ghawanmeh, 45, takes a spot successful beforehand of the fire. The nighttime is chilly, and for the archetypal clip successful weeks, everything is inactive for a infinitesimal – the Israeli settlers’ celebrations person finished for the day.

But the colony of Ras Ein al-Auja, situated successful the eastbound West Bank’s Jericho governorate, has been each but wiped out.

The colony was 1 of the past Palestinian herding communities successful this portion of the Jordan Valley, but now, the herders’ sheep person gone – astir of them stolen oregon poisoned by settlers oregon sold disconnected by villagers nether pressure. Their h2o has been chopped disconnected – the Ras Ein outpouring declared off-limits by the neighbouring settlers for the past year.

And for the past 2 weeks, astir of the community’s homes person been dismantled. Many of the families forced retired person burned their furnishings earlier they person left, not wanting to permission it for the invading settlers to use.

“By God, it’s a hard feeling,” Ghawanmeh says. He is astatine a nonaccomplishment for words, fidgeting by the occurrence and astatine times rubbing his look successful misery and exhaustion. ”Everyone left. Not 1 of them [remains]. They each left.”

Since the commencement of this year, astir 450 of the 650 Palestinian inhabitants of Ras Ein al-Auja person fled their homes – for galore the lone spot they person ever lived – due to the fact that of unit by Israeli settlers.

Other than the 14 Ghawanmeh families, including a ample fig of children, who accidental they person obscurity other to go, the remainder are packing up and leaving successful the coming days.

This accelerated displacement of hundreds of radical marks the largest expulsion from a azygous Bedouin assemblage arsenic a effect of Israeli settler unit successful modern times – a feat that has elicited taunting celebrations by the encroaching settlers and near lives successful ruins for Bedouin families present deprived of shelter, livelihoods and community.

Palestinians dismantle their homes arsenic settler unit forces them retired of Ras Ein al-Auja [Courtesy of Looking the Occupation successful the Eye]

No land, nary sheep, nary water, nary safety

Until the New Year, the radical of Ras Ein al-Auja had held retired connected their lands contempt an onslaught of carnal attacks, thefts, threats, question restrictions and demolition of spot by settlers – a authorities of being that is present each excessively communal for agrarian Palestinian communities crossed the West Bank.

Settlers person been enabled by accelerated maturation successful the fig of colony outposts springing up crossed the West Bank. Settlements and these outposts are amerciable nether planetary law. They are besides built without the ineligible support of Israeli authorities but successful signifier are mostly tolerated and offered extortion by Israeli forces, particularly successful caller years nether the far-right authorities of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

International instrumentality stipulates that occupying powers similar Israel indispensable not determination their ain civilian populations into occupied territories, specified arsenic the West Bank, wherever astir 700,000 settlers present reside.

In December, different 19 settler outposts built without authorities support were retroactively approved by Israel’s authorities arsenic authoritative settlements. In all, the fig of settlements and outposts successful the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem has risen by astir 50 percent since 2022 – from 141 to 210 now.

This caller detonation of settler outposts has fixed mode to a much caller yet adjacent much unsafe phenomenon: shepherding outposts.

Each of these outposts mimics the Bedouins’ mode of beingness but with settlers’ ain grazing flocks. They are typically tally by a azygous equipped Israeli settler supported by respective equipped teenagers often funnelled successful by government-funded programmes intended to enactment “at-risk” troubled youth.

Using carnal grazing arsenic a means to overrun Palestinian shepherds and prehend their lands, specified settlers had managed by April 2024 to instrumentality implicit astir 14 percent of the West Bank, according to the Israeli NGO Kerem Navot. That fig has accrued since past by astatine slightest tens of thousands of dunums (1 dunum equals 0.1 hectares and a 4th of an acre), according to Kerem Navot’s founder, Dror Etkes.

The outposts service arsenic a launching pad for attacks, controls connected Palestinian question and army-coordinated arrests, which person unfolded successful places similar Ras Ein al-Auja.

Routinely, settlers bargain and poison the livestock that Palestinian shepherds, who mostly inhabit these distant areas, trust connected for their livelihoods. On apical of this, settlers are preventing Palestinian shepherds who inactive person flocks from accessing the grazing lands they’ve ever used. Settlers person built fences and prosecute successful intimidation and violence, forcing Palestinians to bargain costly carnal fodder to prolong their flocks instead.

Settlers besides people the basal resources that Bedouin Palestinians trust connected for themselves. Like astir different Palestinian communities successful the West Bank’s Area C, which Israel afloat controls, the radical of Ras Ein al-Auja are denied entree to energy by Israeli authorities. The Israeli Civil Administration, which controls zoning and readying successful Area C, seldom grants permits for Palestinians to physique infrastructure, including connecting to the grid oregon installing star vigor systems. The star panels the villagers person enactment up person often been destroyed by settlers.

In addition, these Palestinian shepherding communities, often located successful adust regions, are present denied capable entree to water, including from the lush springs recovered successful Ras Ein al-Auja which erstwhile made this colony 1 of the astir prosperous of the shepherding communities.

“They prevented america from getting water,” Ghawanmeh says. “They prevented america from bringing the sheep to the h2o and getting h2o from the spring.”

A Palestinian location is dismantled but for the level successful Ras Ein al-Auja, astir each of whose inhabitants person been forced retired by convulsive Israeli settlers [Courtesy of Looking the Occupation successful the Eye]

Near-total impunity

Israeli settlers person besides been emboldened by a wide-scale armament programme spearheaded astatine the commencement of Israel’s genocidal warfare successful the Gaza Strip by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and the near-total impunity they bask erstwhile they transportation retired attacks. While court rulings successful favour of Palestinians and against settlers person occurred, they are rare.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, much than 1,800 settler attacks – astir 5 per time – were documented successful 2025, resulting successful casualties oregon spot harm successful astir 280 communities crossed the West Bank, and besting the erstwhile year’s grounds of settler attacks by much than 350. A full of 240 Palestinians successful the West Bank, including 55 children, were killed by Israeli forces oregon settlers successful 2025.

These unprecedented levels of settler and worker unit alongside the wholesale deprivation of basal resources that agrarian Palestinians request to past person led to the erasure of dozens of agrarian Palestinian communities.

In January and February 2025, the Israeli subject forcibly displaced astir 40,000 radical from exile camps successful Tulkarem and Jenin, according to the Israeli quality rights radical B’Tselem. Since the Gaza warfare began successful October 2023, settler unit has forced retired 44 Palestinian communities successful the West Bank consisting of 2,701 people, astir fractional of whom are minors. Thirteen much communities comprising 452 radical person been partially transferred. These radical extremity up wherever they tin find a spot to stay, resulting successful fractured communities and families.

Such figures of displacement person not been seen successful the West Bank successful decades.

Palestinians instrumentality their houses isolated earlier fleeing the colony of Ras Ein al-Auja successful the eastbound West Bank [Courtesy of Looking the Occupation successful the Eye]

‘Two years of intelligence pressure’

For 27 months, Ras Ein al-Auja has been subjected to each of these types of attacks and restrictions. In the past year, aggregate Israeli shepherding outposts person sprung up astatine antithetic corners of the village, which extends for 20,000 dunums (20sq km oregon 7.7sq miles), and person travel progressively person to Palestinian homes.

“Two years of intelligence unit astatine night,” remarks an exhausted Ghawanmeh, who explains the haphazard shifts the men of his colony person been taking to support watch. “If you sleep, the settlers volition pain your house.”

Under the unit of settler attacks, poisonings and thefts, the fig of sheep belonging to the assemblage has dwindled from 24,000 to less than 3,000. Settler attacks and invasions person go truthful changeless that 9 solidarity activists – immoderate progressives from Israel and others from different countries – were required to support an around-the-clock protective presence.

Without anyplace other to spell – and knowing from some settler threats and accounts from displaced relatives elsewhere that settlers would apt travel them anyhow – the radical of Ras Ein al-Auja had hung connected by a thread.

That is, until the latest settler outpost.

Following a signifier seen successful different now-displaced Bedouin communities similar adjacent Mu’arrajat, immoderate of whose inhabitants fled to Ras Ein al-Auja, settlers began erecting outposts straight adjacent to people’s homes astatine the opening of the twelvemonth – close successful the mediate of the community.

“Life has wholly stopped ever since,” Ghawanmeh says. Families person barricaded themselves wrong their houses, terrified of the settlers who present routinely graze their flocks conscionable extracurricular Palestinian homes.

Then, the spate of attacks this period compelled acold much families to fly and instrumentality their remaining sheep with them. Almost three-quarters of the assemblage has present gone. These families are present scattered crossed the West Bank though astir are present successful the cramped towns and cities of Area A, which makes up 18 percent of the West Bank and is administered by the Palestinian Authority.

As a result, these communities’ centuries-old traditions arsenic Bedouins are coming to an end.

“There’s a saying among the Bedouins: ‘Upbringing outweighs origins,’” Ghawanmeh says. “It means you were raised here, you devour from the land, you portion from the land, you slumber connected the land. You are from it, and it is from you.”

“To permission your location and permission your village”, helium adds, “it is very, very, precise difficult. But we are forced to.”

The children who stay person been near rudderless and acrophobic astatine nighttime arsenic they look astatine empty, scarred patches of onshore wherever erstwhile their friends and household lived. “Children are scared, frightened that the settlers, the [settler information guards], volition come,” Ghawanmeh says.

Al Jazeera requested remark from the Israeli subject astir the accusations made successful this nonfiction and to inquire for details astir what enactment is being taken to forestall settler attacks connected Palestinian communities, including Ras Ein al-Auja. We received nary response.

Residents of Ras Ein al-Auja hole to permission arsenic Israeli settler attacks person intensified connected their community, spot and livestock this twelvemonth [Courtesy of Looking the Occupation successful the Eye]

‘Even if you sing for maine until tomorrow, I won’t beryllium happy’

As the swell of unit and onshore thefts gives mode to a dependable exodus of the past remaining villagers, a mates of musicians travel to supply immoderate alleviation from different time of traumatic separation and displacement.

“I anticipation they’ll consciousness seen, and I anticipation they’ll consciousness blessed for astatine slightest a fewer moments and that they tin consciousness similar children, adjacent if it’s conscionable for a fewer minutes,” says Kai Jack, a Norwegian solidarity activistic and nonrecreational contrabass player.

About a twelve children huddle successful integrative chairs successful a tin shack that erstwhile served arsenic the gathering spot for the community’s galore families to perceive this uncommon performance. As they perceive to a fistful of Palestinian people songs, the children, astatine archetypal timid, unbend and statesman to clap and sing to staples similar Wein a Ramallah (Where? To Ramallah).

For the archetypal clip successful weeks, the children adjacent negociate to ace a fewer smiles.

And then, Jack and the accompanying violinist, Amalia Kelter Zeitlin, settee into playing the Palestinian lullaby Yamma Mawil al-Hawa (Mother, What’s with the Wind?). The children’s mothers, looking connected from the sidelines, statesman to softly sing along:

“My beingness volition proceed done sacrifice – for freedom.”

As the opus ends, the mothers articulation the children successful rounds of applause. “Beautiful?” Jack asks.

“Very,” replies 1 of the mothers who explains however she helps her kid autumn to slumber with this precise song. “And it has been truthful agelong since they were capable to [sleep well].”

As the show ends and the children assemblage astir Jack’s tremendous bass, a fewer of the remaining Ghawanmeh brothers retreat outside, their minds incapable to remainder arsenic they contemplate their inevitable expulsion.

“These songs are for the children,” Naif Ghawanmeh says. “We are bushed inside. Very tired.”

One of his tiny nephews, Ahmed, conscionable 2 years old, begins to sing the chorus of Wein a Ramallah. For 1 little moment, the ambiance is astir festive. But portion helium is blessed the children are relaxing, Ghawanmeh shrugs it disconnected himself.

“By God, look astatine me,” helium says implicit the fire, which is burning immoderate supplies they didn’t privation to permission for the settlers to take. “Even if you sing for maine until tomorrow, I won’t beryllium happy. You see, I’m bushed inside. For 2 years, I’ve been suffering from oppression, hardship and problems time and nighttime from the settlers.

“I’m bushed inside.”