Palestinains in Masafer Yatta are being forced to leave their homelands Photo Mosab Shawer/AFP/Getty/The New Arab
Masafer Yatta – Situated 14 to 24 kilometres south of Hebron lies Masafer Yatta, a cluster of 19 Palestinian hamlets in the southern West Bank. Amidst global attention focused on the Gaza Strip and the genocidal campaign taking place there, Israel has started to initiate its genocidal and ethnic cleansing efforts in this region.
Armed extremist settlers, donning Israeli army uniforms and wielding assault rifles, have begun terrorising and invading the hamlets during violent pogroms, said Mohammad Hureini, 19 year old activist and human rights defender in Youth Of Sumud group from Tuwani village in Masafer Yatta. These armed extremist settlers, with the help of soldiers, have already invaded the village of Susyia and threatened residents that if they don’t leave within 24 hours, they will be back and start killing Palestinians in the village. Similar threats have forced residents in villages like Khirbet Zanuta, Khirbet ar-Ratheem, Khirbet Bir Al ‘Idd, and Khirbet a-Tuba to either abandon their homes entirely or flee to avoid the threat of imminent violence.
“Since the first day of the war they [Israeli militias] have bulldozed and closed all the entrances of the villages and the entire area around. They are not in the army. They are just extremist settlers who live in the settlements and now they’re ruling around us and that has caused many ill effects. My cousin Zakaria was shot two weeks ago by an explosive bullet which is prohibited according to international law. He’s in a serious condition. These militias benefit from the state of war to carry out their agendas, to terrorise the people because the people’s attention is not here.”
Clad in military uniforms, they sweep through villages, enforcing a harsh siege, destroying farmlands, and instilling fear in the hearts of Palestinians. Numerous trees have been felled, and under the cover of darkness, they ruthlessly assault people. Some have fallen victim to sheep theft. Those attempting to venture out face immediate gunfire and attacks if they dare to step beyond the confines of their homes.
Limited access to aid
One of the most pressing issues is the scarcity of essential supplies, including food, medicine and fuel. In order to get medicine, Hureini has to travel to the city of Yatta and must get all the needs of his village at one time. With the roads either being destroyed or closed, they must navigate dangerous and unknown routes to reach Yatta.
“It’s really dangerous to move around because we have a few roads we can use to enter the city otherwise we can’t reach anything. We cannot have food. We don’t have supplies or some [aid] trucks like Gaza does … If you want to even go to work on your land, not just to pick olives, to walk on your land, you will be chased and shot by extremist settlers. [To get food] we have to take some risky roads that until now the Israeli occupation didn’t know about so they didn’t close it but it is bad roads. We need 4×4 cars [to reach and drive there].
SMread: The miracles of Gaza
Continuing to have hope amidst despair
Masafer Yatta is in area C which is under full Israeli control and under threat of annexation. The lives of the Palestinians is incredibly difficult as whatever they have, be it solar panels, crops or water cisterns, is routinely destroyed by the Israeli government. While their villages are targeted often, illegal settlements around them are striving. Even with all of this going around, they have not lost hope for a better future even as things get progressively worse.
“[We have big] hopes to continue our fight against the occupation and to end the occupation. If someone loses his hope, he will just give up. We grow up learning from our fathers, from our grandfathers to face all of the hardest periods … We think that it will get worse, to be honest. It’s the first time in history that Hamas has started the war. In 2014, who started the war between Gaza and the Israeli occupation? The Israeli occupation. We saw the effect of the airstrikes in 2014 but now we can see what’s going on. The amount of bombs that are being dropped on the Gaza Strip is like a quarter of a nuclear bomb since the 7th of October. It’s causing a huge damage for the infrastructure and even for the people. About 8 000 people were murdered by the Israeli occupation.”
While the international community has called on Israel to protect the lives of the Palestinians, Palestinians and Israeli activists have little faith in the government. This has compelled numerous Palestinians to abandon their homeland, their hearts burdened with the crushing certainty that they may never return. Trapped in a heart-wrenching dilemma, they face only two grim choices: to remain and face the imminent threat of death on their own soil, or to forsake their cherished home, clinging to the belief that leaving might offer a sliver of hope for survival.
