More than 20 Palestinian families have fled the Bedouin village of Ras Ein al-Auja in the central occupied West Bank due to ongoing settler attacks.
Human rights organizations reported that 26 families left the village, which was home to approximately 700 people from over 100 families who had lived there for decades.
They explained that the families forced to leave last Thursday dispersed throughout the area in search of safer places, while several other families were packing their belongings and preparing to leave the village on Sunday.
“Intolerable” Attacks
Despite what have been described as “intolerable” harassment by settlers living in unauthorized outposts surrounding the village, Palestinian residents have vowed to remain in their homes and not leave. “This makes them among the last Palestinians remaining in the area,” said Sarit Michaeli, international director of B’Tselem, emphasizing that escalating settler violence has already led to the depopulation of neighboring Palestinian villages in the strip of land stretching from Ramallah in the west to Jericho along the Jordanian border in the east.
The anxiety of Palestinian Bedouin communities in the occupied West Bank is growing as Israeli settlers increase their attacks and seize land and vital resources through what is known as “pastoral settlement,” a strategy employed by settler groups who gradually take over the land.
The United Nations reported that settlers carried out an average of eight attacks per day last October, and at least 136 attacks were recorded the following month.
The sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union, and Britain on settler groups for their violence against Palestinians in the West Bank have not deterred them from continuing their attacks.
