The village of Umm al-Khair in the West Bank is in a severe crisis. Many people have lost their homes and have no reliable access to water and electricity. This is due to the recent increase in home demolitions by the Israeli military and attacks by Israeli settlers.
The problems started when Israeli bulldozers destroyed a quarter of the homes in the village. After that, Israeli settlers attacked the villagers. Many people were hurt, and the village’s water pipe was cut, while Israeli soldiers reportedly did nothing to stop it.
“Where can I go?” asked Yasser Hathaleen, sitting near the rubble of his family’s homes. “Who can I complain to? I need laws to protect me. Where are the people who enforce the laws?”
Umm al-Khair was founded in the 1950s by Bedouins who were forced out of the Negev desert during the 1948 war. In the 1970s, the village came under Israeli control. Since the 1980s, after the nearby Israeli settlement of Carmel was built, there have been occasional attacks by settlers. However, the violence got much worse when an unauthorized outpost called “Roots Farm” was set up nearby.
On July 1, settlers attacked the village, injuring about 10 people with sticks and pepper spray. “There were many women on the ground, struggling to breathe,” said Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist. Videos show settlers tampering with the village’s water pipes and entering the village with rifles while Israeli soldiers watched.
The situation in Umm al-Khair is part of a larger problem where Bedouin communities are being forced off their land by settler violence and state-backed demolitions. Palestinians in the West Bank find it nearly impossible to get building permits, so many homes are destroyed for being ‘illegal.’
Naomi Kahn of the settler group Regavim calls Umm al-Khair an “illegal squatters camp” on Israeli land. The Israeli military said the demolished homes were built without permission.
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal and a barrier to peace. Rights groups say that the expansion of these settlements and outposts, along with violence against Palestinians, makes it harder to achieve a Palestinian state.
Since the Israel-Hamas war began, the U.N. reports a rise in settler violence in the West Bank, displacing over 1,200 Palestinians, many from Bedouin villages like Umm al-Khair. A group of NGOs documented over 1,000 settler attacks in the past nine months, averaging four attacks a day, double the previous year’s daily average.
Outgoing Israeli general Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox condemned the increase in settler violence, urging leaders to stop the chaos and fear among Palestinian residents.
Despite these challenges, the people of Umm al-Khair are determined to stay. “They knock down our homes, and then we rebuild,” said shepherd Bilal Hathaleen. “They come to knock them down again, so we rebuild. We are not going anywhere.”
This crisis shows the need for a solution that protects the rights and safety of everyone living in the West Bank.
