In the Hebron hills, Palestinian hamlets are emptying. Some, like Khirbet Zanuta, a small herding community that was once home to 36 families, have lost almost all their inhabitants.
“They depend on grazing sheep. They will try to search for lands where they can go,” said Quamar Mishirqi-Assad, co-director of Haqel, a human rights group based in Jerusalem. “Most of them don’t know where to go. Some families don’t have any other place to go. They are very frightened.”
Those who have fled have done so after violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank and attacks on Palestinian communities, according to Palestinian authorities. The families in Khirbet Zanuta said they received threats from settlers to leave “within five days” last week. “They destroyed solar panels and beat people,” Mishirqi-Assad said.
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The issue of settler violence had threatened to undermine support for Israel on the world stage. Last week President Biden said he was “alarmed by extremist settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank. They’re attacking Palestinians in places they’re entitled to be. It has to stop now”.
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On Sunday, Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, reinforced that message, telling CNN that their actions were “totally unacceptable”. Sullivan said Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, had a “responsibility to rein in the settlers”. “This is an ongoing challenge. We expect over time to see the Israeli government step up on this. We expect accountability for extremist settlers who engage in this kind of violence.”
The concern is that the settler issue is far from being quelled by Netanyahu’s government, which has given the role of national security minister to Itamar Ben-Gvir, a fervent and right-wing proponent of the movement. Since the October 7 massacre he has spent much of his time handing high-calibre rifles to fellow settlers in the West Bank.
The issue was highlighted at the weekend when a Palestinian man harvesting olives near the city of Nablus was shot dead by a settler, according to the uncle of the victim. That brought the number of Palestinians killed by settlers to seven since Hamas’s bloody incursion into Israel.
The head of the Khirbet Zanuta village council said they told the army and the police but had not received support. “They didn’t come to protect us. They never showed up and never took action,” Fayez el Tel, 45, told the Times.
“We submitted a request to the army to take action against the specific settler,” Mishirqi-Assad said. “They [the army] said if you have any problems we must go to the police station. The police station didn’t answer until now. The people don’t want to be at risk any more so they decided to leave the place.” Susya, another hamlet, was also attacked at the weekend, Mishirqi- Assad said. “We’re talking about a huge amount of attacks, violence and destruction,” she said. “Some settlers are wearing military clothes.”
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There are signs that some radical settlers have been detained. Ariel Danino, was arrested on Saturday and placed under an administrative detention order for four months, reportedly approved by the Shin Bet intelligence agency that cited “a reasonable foundation to assume that state security/public security requires” he be held.
Movement within the West Bank has been restricted with some people unable to leave their houses. The city of Hebron is the only place where settlers and Palestinians live side by side in the West Bank. However, an area near the old city, bordering a settlement, is currently under a curfew, with those inside unable to leave their houses or open their doors without permission, they told The Times.
At the Ibrahimi mosque, one of the most important in the Middle East, worshippers said they had been strip-searched before being allowed to pray.
Ghassan Alragabi, 36, who works at the mosque, said: “It’s the hardest time in my lifetime. Even in the old city, it’s the hardest time.” Alragabi said those living in the south Hebron Hills including villages in the south used to be able to visit the mosque. “Now, even within city, people cannot enter,” he said.
