The Israeli military said it removed the settlers, but they relocated the outpost further into the village. Harassment, theft and threats continued, culminating in one of the largest forced displacements in the West Bank since the Gaza war began
Hundreds of residents of the Bedouin village of Mu’arrajat, near Jericho in the West Bank, were forcibly displaced from their homes on Friday in one of the largest expulsions in the territory since the start of the war in Gaza. The displacement followed the establishment of an Israeli settler outpost inside the village on Wednesday.
According to local residents, the community had been subjected to settler harassment, violence and theft for years. The final decision to leave came Thursday night, after settlers vandalized a family’s home and stole around 60 sheep.
Village residents said about 50 families once lived there, but many had gradually left over the past two years as settler violence intensified.
The Israeli military said it had removed the settlers who set up the illegal outpost earlier this week. However, on Thursday the settlers relocated the outpost – which includes a makeshift seating area and livestock pens – closer to the village’s school, after forcing out the Palestinian family that had lived in the nearby home.
According to the Palestinian residents, a group of settlers arrived Thursday night and told them they had 48 hours to leave. On Friday morning, as villagers were packing up their belongings, Israeli soldiers arrived in a military jeep, spoke with the settlers, and took no action as the settlers disrupted the Palestinians’ efforts to evacuate their property.
“Our lives here are over. The settlers came right up to our house and threatened us,” said Yosef Malihaat, 35, a father of two. “It’s incredibly painful to leave this land – we were born here. There’s no law in Israel today, and that’s why they send these people here – they’re criminals. It’s all intentional. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”
He said he had already sold off his flock several months ago out of fear settlers would steal his livestock. “It’s dangerous to keep our children here. They’ve destroyed our livelihood, and when we called the police, they did nothing,” he added.
“I have no rights,” he said. “If you have a blue ID card, you have rights. I have a green one – that means none,” he added. Blue cards are issued to Israeli citizens and permanent residents, while green cards are given to Palestinians.
Suleiman and Otan Malihaat, parents of eight children, fled their home two nights ago. Their house was the closest to the spot where the settlers first set up the outpost.
“About twenty settlers came and terrified the children. They were drunk – not minors, but adults,” Otan recounted. She described how she grabbed her children and ran to a neighbor’s house, where they spent the night, unable to return home.
Activists from the Israeli anti-occupation group Looking the Occupation in the Eye, who were in the village that night to assist residents, said that when they tried to approach the house, settlers hurled stones at them.
When the family returned the next morning, they found that their belongings had been ransacked. “The house was a mess – they threw our clothes around, took our mattresses, pillows, 200 Jordanian dinars and a bag containing 4,000 shekels, ID cards and important documents for the children,” Otan said.
Some of the money that was stolen, she added, recently came from the sale of her gold jewelry after she started to fear that the family might soon have to leave the village for good. This fear became stronger when the settler attacks, which included hurled stones at the windows of the house, intensified.
“A friend gave us a room where we can all sleep,” said Suleiman, who lost his leg five years ago after settlers shot him while he was herding his flock. “The kids and I are depressed. They’re exhausted,” Otan added.
Like other displaced communities, this Bedouin village has now too dispersed, with families scattering to different areas where they could find temporary shelter.
Farhat Malihaat, 30, and his family moved to the nearby village al-Auja, along with the families of his brothers Suleiman Ali and Ibrahim.
Two days earlier, as settlers established the outpost, they stole 60 sheep from one of Farhat’s brothers. The families are now living on private land in al-Auja, rented from a local resident who agreed to lease it for a year.
During a visit to their new place of residence, women and children were seen sitting in the open sun, enduring the sweltering heat. The tent they erected for shelter had already blown away in the wind. There is no access to water or electricity. “There’s nothing here, and it’s expensive,” said Farhat.
Another brother, Mohammed, set up a makeshift patched-cloth tent elsewhere in the village, where he now sits with his two young children. “The settlers banged on our doors at night to make sure we couldn’t sleep. The kids haven’t slept in days. We left against our will,” he said.
He says there are now 13 people sleeping in the same tent. “This isn’t our place, we’re only here temporarily. We don’t know where we’ll go next.”
Over the past year, the village of Mu’arrajat has seen several particularly violent incidents. In one case, settlers attacked Palestinians at the village school and abducted the principal.
The assailants came from the nearby settler farm outpost run by Zohar Sabah – a site established in recent years near the village, which has become known for its violent activities.
On Friday morning, Sabah visited the newly established outpost inside the village. Israeli soldiers were seen chatting with him and inquiring about a recent barbecue he had hosted. Sabah was also recently provided with a new utility vehicle purchased with funds from the Ministry for Settlement and National Missions.
In another incident in February, settlers set fire to the village mosque.
Throughout this period, village residents have faced persistent harassment – including severe restrictions on grazing areas that left them unable to herd their flocks, as well as roadblocks that prevented access to their homes and farmlands.