As the sun set in the Palestinian Bedouin village of Umm al-Khair in Massaffer Yatta, in the south of the occupied West Bank, men gathered in the community tent, an evening tradition of catching up over tea.
The Sunday of October 29, however, was different.
At around 6:20 p.m., their chatter was interrupted when three masked Israeli men dressed as soldiers who arrived in a military vehicle, each armed with a rifle, pistol, and knife. They forced their way into the tent and called for the Mukhtar, the community leader.
Abdullah Amer (name changed for safety), 28, was a teacher in the village who spoke some Hebrew. He told them that there was no leader, and if they wanted to talk to someone, they could speak to him. The men roughly shoved Amer and forced him to translate their Hebrew orders and threats to everyone inside the tent.
“Everyone line up against the wall and don’t move a single inch, or I will shoot you,” Amer was forced to repeat in Arabic.
As one of the attackers pulled out the magazine of his gun, he said, “These are bullets, and they blow your head into two parts. Anybody moves or speaks, I will shoot him.”
Once again, Amer echoed his words in Arabic.
All 17 Palestinians, ranging between the ages of 10 and 40, were forced to line up against the wall and stare straight ahead. The attackers turned the lights off and began conducting their unwarranted investigation as their mothers, sisters, wives, and children watched the tent from a distance in fear.
“[Our families] thought we were going to be assassinated. I thought so, too; it felt like a militia leading us to our final execution,” Amer told Mondoweiss.
According to Amer, one of the masked men dressed as a soldier, said to a village resident: “I am not military, I am not police, I am nothing. I came here to punish you and to make you pay the price of what happened on October 7.”
‘Humiliated’ and ‘stripped of dignity’
Amer says the attack on Sunday was like nothing they had seen before. It was not a regular search or military patrol around the area. They were “humiliated” and “stripped of their dignity.”
“One by one, they beat us, they hit us with their guns, and then demanded we unlock our phones,” Amer explained to Mondoweiss, re-iterating the trauma he was forced to endure.
The settlers masquerading as soldiers were looking for anything related to Gaza, which Amer said was present on almost everyone’s phones. When they found something, “they would treat them very badly,” he said, describing how the armed men verbally and physically harassed members of the community.
Amer tried to comfort his 13-year-old cousin, who sat beside him throughout the ordeal.
“I tried to whisper to him that it will be okay, nothing will happen, it is all okay, they will leave,” he recounted.
When the attackers reached his cousin, they found a map of Palestine on his phone, so they turned to the boy and asked, “What do you see here?”
“This is Palestine,” he responded.
“Damn your father, there is no Palestine. It is only Israel. Palestine never existed.”
“It was difficult to see what exactly was happening,” Amer continued.
Once the settlers were satisfied with their vicious assault, the man Amer presumed to be their boss said, “You motherfuckers are happy about what happened on the border of Gaza on October 7,” as he paced back and forth.
Amer’s voice began to shake as he repeated the attacker’s words, “You love the killing of people, and you love the killing of infants and slaughtering them and cutting their heads. You love the cutting of bellies of mothers and taking the infants and slaughtering them.”
“I am here now, and I promise I will smash you and step on you. You have to answer my question. Are you with Israel or against Israel? You have to choose,” he demanded.
At gunpoint, the masked man forced one of the Palestinian men to condemn the people of Gaza and say he “stands with Israel” to his phone camera.
Then the camera panned to “each and every person as they asked us if we agreed. Under the threat of their rifle, we had no choice but to say yes.”
The masked men did not stop there; before leaving, he announced, “I want to see more loyalty to Israel. [On Monday] I want to come back at 7:00 p.m. and see an Israeli flag on each and every one of the houses in the community. I will kill anyone who doesn’t have a flag on their roof.”
The Israeli attackers then left. It was 7:20 p.m. by that point.
The torment had gone on in Amer’s tent for about an hour and 20 minutes, but the three settlers spent almost two hours in the village; they had already arrived at 5:30 and begun terrorizing two smaller tents in the northern area, and then broke into the community center, “destroying everything within 10 minutes,” Amer told Mondowiess.
His tent was their final destination. The whole community is still in shock.
“We feel like we are in a nightmare that we want to wake up from, but we cannot. By asking us to put flags on our homes, it was like they were killing us,” Amer said, explaining that the settlers did not return on Monday.
“We are waiting for them. Every second, we wait for somebody to call and say the same car entered because we will not raise an Israeli flag. We are Palestinians. We are terrified he will come back and create a big crime. And there is no accountability. No control over the settlers.”
Amer says the situation in the South Hebron Hills is so dire that at least ten villages have been compelled to flee their land out of fear since October 7 after experiencing similar incidents.
Below is a video published by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem on October 13, 2023, with the caption: “Documentation: A settler shot a Palestinian from point blank range in the village of Tuwani.”
‘We are seeing such a terrifying increase in settler violence’
Israeli settler rampages have dramatically increased in intensity and frequency since October 7, when Hamas launched a multi-pronged assault on Israel, in which 1,400 Israelis were killed during the fighting. Following the attack on October 7, Israel has been carpet-bombing the Gaza Strip non-stop for over three weeks, killing over 8,000 Palestinians in Gaza, a number that continues to rise.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, which is isolated from Gaza by Israel, at least 128 Palestinians, including 33 children, have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank since October 7, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
According to a report by the Israeli human rights organization Yesh Din, there were more than 100 attacks in at least 62 towns and villages in the West Bank between October 7-22. These attacks were carried out by Israeli settlers, often with the support of military forces.
A partial list of the localities attacked include: al-Jab’a, a-Zuweidin, a-Taybah, as-Sawiya, a-Tha’lah, a-Tuwani, Umm Thret, Um Safa, Iskaka, al-Mughayir, al-Mazra’ah al-Qibliyah, Al-Mahrur, al-‘Ubeidiyah, Immatin, Burin, Burqah, Brijiyya, Jalud, Jit, Duma, Deir Istiya, Deir Jarir, Deir Nidham, Deir ‘Ammar, Deir Sharaf, Wadi a-Seeq, Kharbatha Bani Harith, Kh. a-Safai, al-Mufaqarah, Khirbet ar Ratheem, Kh. Wadi Ejheish, Haris, Hebron, Huwarah, Yanun, Yasuf, Masafer Yatta, Kafr Ni’ma, Madama, Mu’arrajat, Maghayir al-‘Abid, Marda, Ni’lin, Sabastiya, Susiya, Silat a-Dhahr, Sinjil, Sa’ir, Ein Yabrud, Einabus, Aqraba, Far’ata, Qabalan, Widady community, Qusrah, Qarawat Bani Hassan, Qaryut, Ras Karkar, Turmusaya, Talfit, and Tuqu’.
Over 60% of the West Bank is classed as Area C, meaning it is under complete Israeli military control, and there is nothing to protect Palestinians from Israeli violence, enabling settlers to wreak havoc on Palestinian land.
Masafer Yatta, in area C, is home to a collection of Palestinian hamlets, including Umm al-Khair. It is surrounded by more than eight illegal Israeli settlements and outposts constructed on Palestinian land. The residents have been dealing with deadly settler attacks since the 1980s when Israel began building settlements in the area.
“We have seen such a terrifying increase in settler violence and very severe attacks on Palestinians in such a short time,” Dror Sadot, a spokesperson for B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, told Mondowiess.
Even worse, it has become “impossible” to differentiate between soldiers and settlers, who, according to Sadot, both have “the same goal: to take over as much Palestinian land as possible and elevate it to Jews.”
OCHA reported that at least 82 Palestinian households comprising 607 people (including 211 children) had been displaced by Israeli settler violence against Palestinians since October 7. These included Bedouin communities in the governorates of Ramallah, Hebron, Bethlehem, Tubas, and Nablus.
Similarly, OCHA reports that 14 Palestinian households, comprising 65 people (including 31 children), were displaced directly by the Israeli state through home demolitions in Area C of the West Bank and in occupied East Jerusalem since October 7.
Sadot says there are a variety of ways Israeli settlers forcibly displace Palestinians. “There are threats. They go into houses where they have no protection, Palestinians have no one to call, and settlers say things like, ‘if you don’t leave your home, we will set it on fire.’”
“Then they can come attack with sticks and bats, or they can set fire to homes or olive trees and other plants on fire, and even shoot at people with guns.”
Sadot also pointed out that Israel supplies settlers with many of their weapons; supposedly, they are provided to protect the settlements, “but in reality, they are just being used to attack the Palestinians,” she continued.
Israeli settlers shooting to kill
Meanwhile, in the northern governorate of Nablus, Palestinians are experiencing a high number of Israeli settler attacks, many of which have turned deadly. According to Anera, the area is home to a dozen Israeli settlements and many more outposts.
Most recently, an Israeli settler killed Bilal Saleh on October 28. He was shot dead while harvesting his olive trees on Saturday morning with his family in the village of al-Sawiya, 18km (11 miles) south of Nablus.
Bilal’s brother-in-law, Hazem Saleh, said it was a family event, a common tradition during Palestinian olive harvesting season.
After spending about two hours on the land, the family noticed four settlers approaching them and decided to leave to avoid confrontation, “hastily abandoning everything,” Hazem told Mondoweiss.
“Bilal realized he forgot his phone and went back to get it when the settlers shot him in the chest, seemingly without provocation,” explaining that the entire incident lasted “less than 90 seconds and unfolded rapidly.”
“Bilal’s screams echoed, and we found him lying on the ground, covered in blood and lifeless. With no access to first aid, we placed him on the ladder we used for picking olives, attempting to rush him to the hospital. Tragically, he passed away during the journey.”
Just three weeks before, and less than 20 miles away, armed Israeli settlers shot dead four Palestinians in Qusra village, Nablus, on October 11 during an incursion by the Israeli military and settlers.
The next day, at their funeral, Israeli settlers shot dead a father and son, Ibrahim Wadi and Ahmad Ibrahim Wadi, on October 12.
Khaled Ibrahim Wadi, 22, the brother and son of the martyrs, explained to Mondoweiss that they were leaving the hospital with the four bodies in the ambulances when armed Israeli settlers blocked their path and “tried to defile and disrespect the martyred bodies.”
“The Israeli police fired at us while providing cover for the settlers to carry out their actions. Once the police began shooting, the settlers were encouraged and started shooting as well.”
“Five bullets struck their car. [My brother] and our cousin were seated in the back, and they were nearly killed as well,” said Khaled, who was in a different car at the time.
Khaled’s younger brother, who saw his father and brother shot dead from the back seat of the car, watched Khaled speaking intently from across the room, declining to comment.
“Ben-Gvir, the Minister of National Security of Israel, is the one who has weaponized the settlers, incentivizing them to commit heinous crimes and massacres. What happened to us is just one of the many examples,” Khaled pointed out.
Settler violence increasing
Israeli settler violence is not new and has been steadily increasing over the years as the illegal settler population expands in the West Bank.
In the last year, the settler attacks have grown more vicious as more settler representatives join the Israeli government, such as Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s National Security Minister, and Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s Finance Minister.
Following October 7, Ben-Gvir purchased 10,000 rifles to “arm civilian security teams,” many of which have been distributed across Israeli settlements.
“We don’t want to normalize the fact that these extremists are in the government encouraging settler violence. It is not normal, and it is extreme and can get worse, but on the other hand, we shouldn’t exceptionalize this because it is something that has been going on for years,” Sadot highlighted.
UN OCHA also reported that 43% of the nearly 2,000 Palestinians who have been displaced by settler violence since 2022 have taken place after October 7.
Drot says there is no protection for Palestinians in Area C. When Israeli settlers attack Palestinian villages, the army will not protect them.
“When Palestinians try to protect themselves, the army will come and protect and join the settlers,” who enjoy “impunity.”
In addition to being subjected to settler attacks across Area C, Israeli forces frequently demolish civilian structures, including water structures, roads, schools, and homes, on the grounds that they have been built without a permit from Israel, which is almost impossible to obtain.
In contrast, Israeli settlements are flourishing; Sadot says Israel funds their expansion, guards them, and provides them with electricity and water.
“We desire to live in peace; we do not seek war. They are the ones who invaded and attacked us. Despite their actions, we are determined to remain on our land and pursue peace,” Khaled said.
“Right now, we are losing our dignity and honor because they are severely humiliating us, taking advantage of the [war on Gaza],” Amer said.
“I pray the whole world saves us before it is too late,” Amer told Mondoweiss, reflecting upon the looming threat. “Before we are massacred.”
How can anyone read this piece and not be reminded of the racist, deliberately degrading and often lethal violence meted out against Jews in Germany and Eastern Europe in the 1930s and during WWII? Perhaps this is simply how it always appears when a dominant group has impunity over another group that it both fears and disdains.
The photo at top epitomizes the long story. Courage, rage, and pride frontally challenge superior force with bravado….. in face of great cost.