A Palestinian Bedouin community in the West Bank abandoned their homes this week due to the increase in attacks by Israeli settlers, the Israeli NGO Btselem reported, detailing that it is the fourth community in the area to abandon their place of residence in the last three months.
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"After repeated attacks and threats from settlers and having no other choice, the Al Qabun Bedouin community, located east of Ramallah, left their homes," Btselem explained, adding that most members of this community 86 people have already left the site.
Twelve Bedouin families abandoned their homes after 27 years of uninterrupted residence on the site. This came after a relentless increase in attacks by Jewish settlers, who since February have frequently entered Al Qabun, threatening its inhabitants and seizing farm fields.
"Al Qabun is the fourth community in the area that has had to flee due to Israeli policies, which impose impossible conditions on local residents to push them to leave. Thus they pave the way to seize their land and transfer it to Jewish hands," Btselem denounced.
Israeli policies include a ban on the construction of residences and infrastructure, the establishment and financing of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, and the continued violent attacks carried out by Israeli settlers.
In the first six months of the year, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documented 591 violent incidents carried out by settlers against the Palestinian population and their property.
This figure implies an increase of 39 percent compared to the same period in 2022, when the highest number of incidents had already been registered since 2006.
So far this year, 10 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 2,000 injured in the West Bank during violent incidents with settlers. However, many of these crimes end without trials or convictions for the offenders.