[[link removed]]

THE WEST BANK VILLAGES WIPED OFF THE MAP BY ISRAELI SETTLER VIOLENCE
 
[[link removed]]


 

Oren Ziv
December 4, 2024
972 Magazine
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Since October 7, over 50 rural Palestinian communities have been
forced to abandon their homes amid intensifying attacks, threats, and
harassment by Israeli settlers — almost always with the backing of
the army and police. _

The ruins of a bulding destroyed by settlers in the displaced
Palestinian village of Khalet Khader, occupied West Bank, Oren Ziv

 

Several weeks before October 7, +972 Magazine published 
[[link removed]]an
investigation into the seizure by Israeli settlers of a vast area of
the occupied West Bank, stretching east from Ramallah to the outskirts
of Jericho. Through the establishment of an array of new settler
outposts and sustained harassment of Palestinian shepherding
communities, which was often ignored or actively facilitated by the
Israeli army, settlers managed to expel virtually all the Palestinians
living in an area measuring approximately 150 square kilometers.

In that investigation, we reported on the forcible displacement of
four shepherding communities within a period of four years, totaling
several hundred people. But over the past 14 months since the Gaza war
began, what was already a dramatic process of ethnic cleansing has
accelerated exponentially. 

According to new data
[[link removed]] gathered
by the left-wing Israeli NGO Kerem Navot, which monitors Israel’s
dispossession of Palestinian land in the West Bank, at least 57
Palestinian communities have been forced to flee their homes since
October 7 as a result of Israeli settler attacks
[[link removed]]. Of
these, seven have been partially displaced — meaning the expulsion
of at least one residential cluster, located several hundred meters
away from the next — and 50 have been wiped off the map entirely.

Most of the displacement has been concentrated in four areas: the
northern Jordan Valley, east of Ramallah, southeast of Bethlehem, and
the South Hebron Hills. “Unsurprisingly, most new outposts have been
established in these areas,” Etkes explained. “There is a direct
link between their establishment and the rise in violence [against
Palestinians].” 

Kerem Navot and another left-wing Israeli NGO, Peace Now, estimate
that since October 2023, at least 41 illegal settler outposts and
herding farms
[[link removed]] have
been established in the West Bank. At least 10 of these were built in
close proximity to Palestinian communities that were subsequently
forced to flee their lands. In addition, settlers have set up
“observation posts” or planted Israeli flags in areas abandoned by
Palestinians in order to prevent them from returning. 

Most of the displacement has been concentrated in four areas: the
northern Jordan Valley, east of Ramallah, southeast of Bethlehem, and
the South Hebron Hills. “Unsurprisingly, most new outposts have been
established in these areas,” Etkes explained. “There is a direct
link between their establishment and the rise in violence [against
Palestinians].” Kerem Navot and another left-wing Israeli NGO, Peace
Now, estimate that since October 2023, at least 41 illegal settler
outposts and herding farms have been established in the West Bank. At
least 10 of these were built in close proximity to Palestinian
communities that were subsequently forced to flee their lands. In
addition, settlers have set up “observation posts” or planted
Israeli flags in areas abandoned by Palestinians in order to prevent
them from returning.
Most of the displacement has been concentrated in four areas: the
northern Jordan Valley, east of Ramallah, southeast of Bethlehem, and
the South Hebron Hills. “Unsurprisingly, most new outposts have been
established in these areas,” Etkes explained. “There is a direct
link between their establishment and the rise in violence [against
Palestinians].” Kerem Navot and another left-wing Israeli NGO, Peace
Now, estimate that since October 2023, at least 41 illegal settler
outposts and herding farms have been established in the West Bank. At
least 10 of these were built in close proximity to Palestinian
communities that were subsequently forced to flee their lands. In
addition, settlers have set up “observation posts” or planted
Israeli flags in areas abandoned by Palestinians in order to prevent
them from returning.

“Expelling [Palestinian] communities has helped the settlers take
over hundreds of thousands of dunams of grazing and agricultural
land,” Etkes said — all of which is done “with the backing of
the Israeli army and police. Even if the state does not officially
declare it, it permits it. This cannot happen in so many communities
without [the assistance of] the military.” 

In some cases, the army has been documented playing an active role in
the displacement. According to multiple Palestinian testimonies,
settlers who in the past would harass them while dressed in civilian
clothes now arrive armed and in military uniform — part of a
growing phenomenon
[[link removed]] of
settlers abusing their role as army reservists amid the ongoing war in
Gaza. They carry out violent raids, enter homes, steal livestock, and
even conduct arrests, including of Israeli and international
activists
[[link removed]] who
come to support vulnerable Palestinian communities.

“You definitely see it recurring,” Etkes told +972. “The army is
aware and participates, whether it’s regular soldiers or settler
militiamen and ‘area defense
[[link removed]]’
personnel who operate under the [aegis of the] army.”

These attacks usually occur within what is known as Area C of the West
Bank, the roughly 60 percent of the territory in which the Israeli
military exercises direct civil and security control. Around half a
million Israeli settlers — all of those dwelling illegally in the
West Bank — live in these regions, alongside approximately 300,000
Palestinians. While settlements and outposts expand freely onto
privately-owned Palestinian land, Israel’s Civil Administration —
the arm of the military responsible for administering the occupation
— bans the vast majority of construction
[[link removed]] in
Palestinian communities in Area C.

The result, illustrated by the testimonies below from seven villages
across the West Bank, has been the expulsion of dozens of Palestinian
shepherding communities, enabling further expansion of Israeli
settlements and outposts onto their lands. 

Umm Al-Jamal: ‘They bring settlers to break the residents’
spirit’

In the scorching heat of late August, Nabil Daraghmeh sat alone
outside his home in the shepherding community of Umm Al-Jamal, in the
northern Jordan Valley. A few days earlier, nearly all of the
community’s residents — around 100 men, women, and children —
had fled after settlers descended on the community from an outpost
they had established nearby earlier that same week. They entered
homes, photographed residents, and made false complaints against them
to the Israeli authorities. 

In the past, residents of Umm Al-Jamal could largely withstand the
settlers’ harassment. But since the war began, the sharp uptick in
violence has forced them to flee their lands and relocate to an area
where settler attacks are scarcer. Daraghmeh was the last resident
remaining. “I said I’m staying here and not leaving,” he told
+972.

Nabil Daraghmeh, the last remaining resident of Umm Al-Jamal, Jordan
Valley, occupied West Bank. (Oren Ziv)

At night, the 51-year-old father of nine had begun sleeping on the
roof of his house to protect himself from settler attacks. “After
everyone left, young children of settlers came to me and said,
‘It’s a waste of time, get out of here.’ I told them, ‘I’ve
been here for 20 years, and you arrived yesterday — you can’t tell
me to get out of here.’ They said if I didn’t leave of my own
accord, they’d kick me out.”

Daraghmeh highlighted a new tactic that is becoming increasingly
common across the West Bank: “A settler comes and photographs the
[Palestinian’s] herd, and then turns to the army and the police and
says it belongs to him and the Palestinian stole it from him.” 

Immediately after the new outpost was established near Umm Al-Jamal,
settlers came and started taking photos. “They were concentrating on
the sheep,” Daraghmeh explained. “We saw that it happened in Ras
Ein Al-Auja [another Palestinian community nearby], where 150 sheep
were taken. People know what happens when the sheep are photographed,
they know that in the morning [the settlers] will bring the police and
army and say, ‘This is mine.’” 

The Israeli outpost near the community was established on Aug. 12. By
the morning of Aug. 16, the Palestinian residents had already packed
their belongings, dismantled their tents, gathered their flocks, and
fled. “This is happening throughout the West Bank — it’s
policy,” Daraghmeh said. “They bring the settlers to break the
residents’ spirit.”

Al-Farisiya: ‘Settlers, the army, and the police work together’

Residents of the shepherding community of Al-Farisiya began fleeing
their homes soon after the war began. Today, roughly 30 families are
still holding on, in a residential cluster called Ein Ghazal.
Left-wing Israeli activists come to provide a sense of security
[[link removed]],
but the activists and residents all know that if the settlers decide
to act with full force
[[link removed]],
there is little they could do. 

“Since the beginning of the war, settlers, the army, and the police
have been working together toward the same goal: expelling the
residents and taking over the area,” Ahmed Abu Hussein, 38,
explained. 

“The village was closed off from all directions
[[link removed]],” he
continued. “Every day, [settlers] come to the area, abuse the sheep,
and force their way into homes. In September, soldiers came
to dismantle
[[link removed]] and confiscate
the security cameras we’d placed with the help of organizations and
activists, in order to provide some protection for the community.” 

In footage
[[link removed]] from July, the
settler Didi Amusi from the nearby Tene Yarok outpost, an extension of
the Rotem settlement, can be heard declaring that he would establish
an observation post overlooking the community. According to Abu
Hussein, there are now seven settler outposts between the settlement
of Mehola and the nearby Palestinian community of Ein Al-Hilweh.

The loss of grazing areas since the start of war has meant that Abu
Hussein, like other Palestinian shepherds in the region, has had to
buy more food for his flock, increasing his financial burden. “In
Tayasir [a village in Area B, where many of the communities displaced
from the Jordan Valley have fled], they also have to buy food, but
there’s a little more security there because there are no settlers
around,” he said.

Fathu Sedru: ‘I’m scared for the small children’

Shepherding communities in the southern West Bank describe similar
ordeals. The residents of Fathu Sedru, a community located near the
settlement of Carmel, were able to graze land in the area until two
years ago, when the Israeli settler Shimon Atiya established an
outpost called Havat Shorashim (“Roots Farm”). 

An observation post that forms an extension of Shimon Atiya’s
outpost, Havat Shorashim, near the village of Fathu Sedru, South
Hebron Hills, occupied West Bank. (Oren Ziv)

Since the outbreak of the war, their situation has worsened
significantly. Today, only one family of 14 remains in the village
after two other families fled. One of their homes has since
been destroyed
[[link removed]] by settlers. 

“On October 7, the settlers started a war here,” Farid Hamamdeh,
one of the remaining residents of Fathu Sedru, told +972. “They cut
down about 100 trees, and beat my brothers and I. In the months that
followed, there were dozens of attacks
[[link removed]]. Sometimes they
came three times a day, always from Shimon’s outpost.”

Hamamdeh recalls how, before the war, the Civil Administration
informally divided the grazing areas between the Israeli settlers and
the Palestinians. Since then, however, settlers from the nearby
outpost have taken over the entire area. “Shimon says
[[link removed]] that the area
we live in is Israeli territory, [that] everything is Israeli.”

Atiya, he said, often comes in IDF uniform and claims to be there on
behalf of the army. “We call the police, but they don’t come. But
when I go into Israeli [grazing] territory, they all come.”

Hamamdeh was arrested twice this past August after being harassed by
settlers from the outpost. “Shimon came to the house, and I tried to
block the door but two of them made their way inside. One of them hit
me on the hand and said I had hit him. I didn’t get a good [camera]
shot of it. Then the police came, [after] I called them, and they said
I had assaulted him. Am I crazy? Attacking [someone] and then calling
the police?”

Hamamdeh described his time in jail as extremely difficult. “It was
seven days, but it felt like 70. We were taken out into the yard
handcuffed and blindfolded. They banged my head against the doorframe
until I bled. I was taken to a doctor who gave me two handkerchiefs to
clean the blood and nothing else. They gave me clothes that were too
small. I came out of prison as if I had come back from death.” 

Hamamdeh said that while he had no intention of leaving his home, the
escalating settler violence left him and his family deeply worried.
“This is our land, my father’s, my grandfather’s. But the
settlers have no God. I’m scared for the small children.” 

Farid Hamamdeh with his children in Fathu Sedru, South Hebron Hills,
occupied West Bank. (Oren Ziv)

Umm Darit: ‘When we call the police, they tell us we’re liars’

In the community of Umm Darit, located in the region of Masafar Yatta
[[link removed]], one Palestinian family
lives sandwiched between the outpost of Mitzpe Yair and the settlement
of Avigayil, which was recently legalized. After being driven out of
their land at the start of the war, the Abed family managed to return
in March thanks to a continual presence of international activists.

Like in other communities across the West Bank, settlers and soldiers
erected an arbitrary blockade near the family’s home, cutting off
access to their trees, seasonal crops, and water wells. Then came the
attack.

“On Oct. 20 [2023], a group of settlers dressed in military uniforms
came and forced us out of the house,” Mohammed Abed, 60, told +972.
“They had us sit outside for four hours, while they broke
everything. After they finished, one of them came up to me and said,
‘If you sleep here at night, we’ll kill you.’ So we went to [the
nearby village of] Sha’b Al-Butum. Every morning I went back home,
and at night slept in Sha’b Al-Butum.

“At the beginning of Ramadan in March, after [we] came back, they
started to harass us again,” Abed continued. “In April, settlers
dressed in military uniform told us that if we crossed a certain tree,
they would either arrest us, kill us, or cut off our hands. We told
them it was our land. They said it all belonged to Avigayil.” 

Since then, settlers dressed in military uniforms have routinely
encroached on the family’s land. In one case, they set a vehicle on
fire [[link removed]]. “If the
settlers see that [international activists] are leaving, they
immediately bring their sheep to eat our crops,” Abed said. “When
we call the police, they tell us we’re liars. We have footage, but
it doesn’t bother them.”

Mohammed Abed stands beside a car burned by settlers in Umm Darit,
South Hebron Hills, occupied West Bank. (Oren Ziv)

To protect their property, the residents secured the community’s
ancient cistern with a tightly-locked door and installed three
security cameras aimed at it. Several times, settlers, mostly
teenagers, came and sat on the porch
[[link removed]] of the family
house for a few hours. “They said they wanted coffee next time,”
Abed recounted. 

Nearby, on the way to the adjacent village of At-Tuwani, settlers set
up a gate to further restrict Palestinians’ freedom of movement.
“Everything you see has happened since the war started,” Abed
said. “Before the war, we could go to [the villages of] Mufagarah,
At-Tuwani, Khalet Al-Daba; the area was open. Now they’re not
letting us through. The war was their opportunity.”

Khirbet Zanuta: ‘There is a plan to kick out as many communities as
possible’

The community of Khirbet Zanuta, located in the southernmost part of
the West Bank, is one of the largest to have been displaced since the
start of the war, comprising 27 families totaling some 300 people. In
November 2023, residents were forced to flee following repeated
attacks by settlers from the nearby Havat Meitarim
[[link removed]] outpost.
That outpost, along with its founder, Yinon Levy, were
subsequently sanctioned
[[link removed]] by the
Biden administration. 

The residents petitioned the High Court of Justice to allow them to
return to the village and receive protection, and in July, their
efforts bore fruit: the court ruled that the state must allow the
residents to return, in coordination with the military and with the
protection of the police and the army. 

On Aug. 21, dozens of residents returned to the village
[[link removed]], but
were forbidden
[[link removed]] from rebuilding
any of the structures that the settlers had destroyed. When they began
setting up a cloth for shade from the sun
[[link removed]], settlers called
the Civil Administration which came with police to dismantle and
confiscate the equipment. 

Despite the state’s commitment to the court to protect the
Palestinian residents, the settlers’ harassment continued unabated.
Every day, settlers entered 
[[link removed]]the community,
walked among the houses, and photographed the residents to provoke
them. After one such invasion, residents called the police. The
officer who arrived declared that “both sides are allowed to be
there.”

Israeli settlers harass Palestinian residents of Khirbet Zanuta, South
Hebron Hills, occupied West Bank. (Oren Ziv)

On Sept. 9, Levy entered the village wearing a shirt emblazoned with
the insignia of Hashomer Yosh — another organization sanctioned by
the United States in August
[[link removed]] —
and stole a sheep
[[link removed]] that he claimed
originally belonged to him. The police officers and soldiers who
arrived at the scene not only allowed Levy to take the sheep, but
arrested one of the residents. (The sheep was returned to the
Palestinians [[link removed]] a
month later.)

In a video filmed
[[link removed]] after the
arrest, Levy is heard saying, “Most of this land is mine.” When
told that the police officer at the scene had said it was private
Palestinian land, Levy said: “He doesn’t know … He must have
made a mistake.” 

A few days later, the majority of residents abandoned the village once
more, unable to withstand the constant harassment. Some remained for a
little while in an area across the road, known as North Zanuta, but
were forced out of there too by the end of the month.

Quamar Mishirqi-Assad, a lawyer representing the residents, filed a
motion for contempt of court on the grounds that the Israeli
authorities failed to abide by the court’s ruling and protect the
residents from the settlers, which forced them to leave their land
again. 

“The settlers attacked the residents and their sheep, and threatened
them,” she told +972. “In addition, residents were not allowed to
rebuild, or even to put up a shading cloth, on the grounds that it is
an archaeological site. So although the authorities committed to
[allow the Palestinian residents to] return, they are not allowed
basic living conditions.

“The right-wing agenda has permeated — the army is carrying it
out,” Mishirqi-Assad continued. “They treat the people of Zanuta
as if they are residents of an illegal outpost, even though they have
admitted that they lived in caves [on the village’s land] for years,
and that they have rights and documents [proving it]. 

“It just goes to show that there is a plan to kick out as many
communities as possible under the auspices of ‘security reasons,’
and this has intensified after October 2023,” she added.
“Otherwise, I can’t understand why the people of Zanuta can’t
[be allowed to] return.” 

A Palestinian shepherd grazes his flock on the lands of Zanuta, South
Hebron Hills, occupied West Bank. (Oren Ziv)

According to Mishirqi-Assad, the initial success of the residents’
legal struggle made it particularly important for settlers to ensure
that the Palestinian residents are driven away for good. “Their
return gave people hope,“ she said. “There was a precedent here.
It’s a big community, it has a significant impact. The fall of
Zanuta led to the fall of more villages and the expulsion of more
communities.”

In an indication of Israeli authorities’ attitude toward the
community’s legal status, the Civil Administration referred to
Zanuta as a “Palestinian outpost” in a statement to +972. It is
worth noting in this context that the Civil Administration does not
enforce building violations in the nearby Havat Meitarim outpost, even
though all of its structures were built illegally under Israeli law. 

Al-Muarrajat: ‘It looked like they wanted to kill’

The community of Al-Muarrajat lies near Jericho, abutting an area of
150 square kilometers that settlers emptied of Palestinians prior to
the war. According to Kerem Navot, settlers have established around 20
illegal herding outposts in this area in recent years; one of them, a
sub-outpost of a farm belonging to the radical settler Neria Ben Pazi
(also sanctioned by the United States), was erected right beside
Al-Muarrajat.

Before the war, residents were targeted by settlers from nearby
outposts, who prevented them from crossing the road toward the
community of Ras Ein Al-Auja to graze. Since October 7, the situation
has only worsened, with settlers often descending on the town and
walking between the houses to intimidate residents, as well as
poisoning the community’s sheep. As a result of the intensification
of attacks, at least one residential cluster in the center of the
village fled soon after the war started.

In mid-September, settlers attacked the village’s school as some of
the children hid in the classrooms, crying for help. Footage of the
attack
[[link removed]] shows
settlers, some of them masked, storming the school with clubs as
students flee. Several teachers were wounded in the attack. When the
Israeli authorities arrived, they arrested the school’s principal.

A photo shows the damage left by settlers after they attacked the
school in Al-Muarrajat, Jordan Valley, occupied West Bank. (Oren Ziv)

In an extremely rare occurrence, the Jerusalem District Attorney’s
Office filed indictments
[[link removed]] against
five settlers, including Zohar Sabah — the owner of the nearby farm,
who the United States sanctioned in November — and two minors, for
their involvement in the attacks.

Awtan Al-Malihat, a 33-year-old mother of six, told +972 that some of
her children were in the school during the attack. “I went there to
get the kids. The settlers had clubs, they didn’t even cover their
faces. They just beat us, without talking. It was a serious assault;
it looked like they wanted to kill.” 

After the attack, Al-Malihat’s children refused to go back to
school. “They said they were afraid there would be another attack,
but I told the older daughter to take her little sister and be around
her all day,” she said. 

“There is no security here,” Al-Malihat continued. “If there are
activists, [the settlers] don’t attack us. But when they’re not
here, the settlers know and come to make trouble. They want to expel
us — not only here, but everywhere. But we have been living here for
a long time, and we have nowhere else. This is our land, we will not
leave.”

Aaliyah Malihat, a 28-year-old communications student from the
community, described how the settlers’ terror against the village
has intensified since the war began: “They attack residents day and
night. The army and police come with them, taking sheep, arresting
people, even opening fire. We don’t know who to turn to for
protection. 

“We’ve lived here for decades, and the school has existed for 40
years,” she continued. “The settlers decided a year ago
[[link removed]] to take over
the school and the nearby spring because they know that these are the
most important things in the village — and if they take them, the
residents will leave.”

Aaliyah Malihat in her home in Al-Muarrajat, Jordan Valley, occupied
West Bank. (Oren Ziv)

Schools in Palestinian communities in the West Bank are often targeted
by settlers and right-wing organizations. In 2021, the settler
organization Regavim published
[[link removed]] a
report claiming that the establishment of schools was part of a
Palestinian plan to take over territory in Area C.

Wadi As-Siq: ‘We were under siege’

A few kilometers up the mountain from Al-Muarrajat lies Wadi As-Siq,
whose residents were expelled in the first days of the war. The
community, which settlers marked for expulsion even before the war, is
located next to the area that was already ethnically cleansed by the
summer of 2023. 

B., a father of nine who asked to remain anonymous for fear of settler
retribution, told +972 that the problems started in February 2023,
when the aforementioned settler Neria Ben Pazi established an outpost
a few hundred meters from the local school. “From the day the
settlers arrived, they made life difficult. As did the army. At
school, on the roads, on the pastures, in the fields, and in the wells
— there were problems. After the expulsion, the problems only got
worse.” 

In the summer of 2023, Israeli and Palestinian activists maintained a
protective presence to prevent the expulsion of residents. After the
war began and attacks intensified, however, residents began to flee.
During this time, settlers and soldiers raided the
community, kidnapping and severely abusing
[[link removed]] Palestinian
and Israeli activists, including sexually — an incident that
prompted the closure
[[link removed]] of
the Israeli army’s Desert Frontier
[[link removed]] unit,
whose soldiers were involved in the abuse.

“The last days in the village, from Oct. 7 to 11, were difficult,”
B. said. “Roads were blocked, attacks were carried out near our
home, and we were prevented from bringing water and food for the
animals. We were under siege.”

Members of the community have since dispersed. Some relocated to Area
B, near the communities of Taybeh and Rammun in the central West Bank.
B. initially moved into a tent in an open area nearby, from which he
can see his old home as well as Ben Pazi’s outpost. “I saw the
village every day, but I wish I didn’t. It’s mentally
difficult,” he said.

A Palestinian man looks out from a tent over the lands of Wadi As-Siq,
occupied West Bank. (Oren Ziv)

“In Wadi As-Siq, we had land for grazing and sowing, we had good
houses, and water in wells,” he continued. “We had 1,500 dunams
[around 370 acres], a school, and an access road. After the expulsion,
we don’t have anything. We don’t have a house. I only have a tent
to sleep in at night. There is no water and no grazing area, and
barley for sheep is expensive so we can’t buy any. There’s no work
so there’s no money, even to send the little ones to school.” 

As with other communities, the expulsion has dismantled the social
fabric of the community. “Our neighbors are gone — we meet only on
happy occasions and holidays,” B. explained. “In Wadi As-Siq, we
sat together every night in a different house. The distance between us
was 50 meters. Now it’s 3-4 kilometers.” 

Today, B. and his family live on the outskirts of Rammun, opposite an
illegal landfill where garbage is burned. They managed to send the
children to a local school only after activists raised the annual
tuition fee of NIS 800 (around $220) per student. The family are still
afraid to go out to graze in the area: “If we go far, they will take
our sheep, as they did in Zanuta.” 

After B. learned that the residents of Zanuta returned to their homes
in August, he was hopeful the same could happen in Wadi As-Siq. “But
we heard they wanted to leave [again, due to renewed settler
harassment], so hope was gone.”

A spokesperson for Israel’s Civil Administration declined to respond
to an inquiry from +972 regarding how it is working to protect the
Palestinian residents of Area C. The spokesperson responded only to
our question about Zanuta, where it claims to be “working to
maintain security and order” despite residents having been forced to
flee once again after their legally mandated return. An Israeli army
spokesperson responded similarly: “In cases of violence, the
relevant authorities can be contacted and the matter will be
examined.”

_Eran Maoz assisted with this report. Sections of this article were
first published in Hebrew on Local Call. Read them __here_
[[link removed]]_ and __here_
[[link removed]]_._

_OREN ZIV is a photojournalist, reporter for Local Call, and a
founding member of the Activestills photography collective._

_Our team at +972 has been devastated by the horrific events of this
latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented
onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged
Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas
in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and
communities facing this violence. _

_We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The
bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to
engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed
by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on
Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is
ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence
Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies._

_This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the
past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and
militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized
siege on Gaza._

_We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need
your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity
of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians
and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the
fight of their lives._

_CAN WE COUNT ON YOUR SUPPORT 
[[link removed]]? +972 MAGAZINE IS A LEADING
MEDIA VOICE OF THIS MOVEMENT, A DESPERATELY NEEDED PLATFORM WHERE
PALESTINIAN AND ISRAELI JOURNALISTS, ACTIVISTS, AND THINKERS CAN
REPORT ON AND ANALYZE WHAT IS HAPPENING, GUIDED BY HUMANISM, EQUALITY,
AND JUSTICE. JOIN US._

_BECOME A +972 MEMBER TODAY [[link removed]]_

* Israel
[[link removed]]
* West Bank
[[link removed]]
* Area C
[[link removed]]
* Israeli settlers
[[link removed]]
* South Hebron Hills
[[link removed]]
* Masafer Yatta
[[link removed]]
* Jordan Valley
[[link removed]]
* forcible displacement
[[link removed]]
* ethnic cleansing
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]