@Guesswho88 @Time4TERF
This is a news story published in Israeli newspaper Haaretz 3 days ago - very frustrating that UK media is not covering it:
Haaretz, 17 October 2023
There's War, Blood Is Boiling': Settlers Force Palestinians Out Their West Bank Homes
Since the outbreak of the war on October 7, more and more Palestinians in shepherding communities in the West Bank have been fleeing from their homes because of escalating settler violence. In some cases, entire communities have been emptied. In others a number of families have left, or just the women and children.
The residents report threats from settlers, sometimes armed, who tell them they have to leave. One man says he received threatening phone calls from someone impersonating a Shin Bet agent and from a person claiming to be a police officer. Both cursed him and told him he had two days to leave.
Mohammad showed Haaretz a record of numerous calls he received, both from hidden numbers and from the number of of settlers from the surrounding area, including Sharvit’s number. Speaking with a relative of Mohammad, Sharvit mentioned him and said: “They are looking for him. The police were here, the Shin Bet, who didn’t come here. It’s a shame, they will catch him, he should hide for a long time now.”
Asked by Ha’aretz about him telling the villagers to leave and the phone calls, Sharvit replied: “Don’t know [about that].”
According to an estimate by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs published in September, 1,105 shepherds which is about 12% of the entire population of herders in the West Bank have abandoned their homes during the past year. This process has been going on for some time, due to the reduction in grazing areas and harassment by settlers, which stepped up in the last week.
All the residents of the village Wadi as-Seeq also evacuated, about 20 families. All left last week due to repeated harassment by settlers but they haven’t finished clearing out their belongings. They are afraid to return unprotected.
Most of the several dozen people living in Ein Shabli, a village in the Jordan Valley, have fled. Aisha Eshtaya, 70, came on Saturday to collect things left in the house, from which they had already evacuated the sheep. According to the residents and Israeli activists accompanying them, a settler named Moshe Sharvit who lives in an outpost near the village, “Tirza Valley Farm”, also known as “Moshe’s Farm”, came and told them they had five hours to vacate.
Eshtaya found that her home had been vandalized. The solar panel was smashed, plants were uprooted and clothes had been removed from the closet and scattered on the floor. The vandals also destroyed an electric generator and stole some of their belongings.
Aisha’s husband, Nabil, had to be hospitalized after the settlers’ attack, which happened on Thursday. “They banged his head against the wall when he was sitting at home and eating. He has epilepsy,” she said, describing as she tried to reenact the settler attack. During the interview at her home, where the evidence of damage was still clear, a drone circled above the house.
“We are afraid they will burn down our house. I’m most afraid that they will uproot my olive trees, which I’ve raised like my own children; every day I woke up to them,” she recounted, crying. On Saturday Eshtaya, her children, and some of her relatives packed up more belongings, moving them by truck and tractor. They closed the door, hoping that might prevent settlers from raiding the house again.
In the last few days, Eshtaya son Mohammed started receiving threatening phone calls. In one call, recordings of which were provided to Ha’aretz, the caller identified himself as a member of the Shin Bet. In another call, someone claiming to be a police officer named Sa’ar spoke.
“I’m telling you one thing: there is a war and everyone’s blood is boiling. I’m giving you free advice: you have two days, leave the place you’re in and go back to the village. If not, woe on you,” said Sa’ar, conducting the conversation in fluent Arabic.
In the conversation, Sa’ar claimed that earlier, Mohammed had called Moshe [Sharvit], whom he called “Musa” (Moshe in Arabic), and threatened him.
The one posing as a Shin Bet agent told Mohammad: “If you want trouble, talk like that to Musa again, you hear me? I’m coming to you and fucking your mother, do you hear, you son of a bitch? Listen to me, you son of a bitch, listen to me well,” and continued: “If you have balls, stay where you are, you son of a bitch, Mohammad you pig.”
Now only young men remain, trying to prevent the land from being taken over, according to the residents. They add that a roadblock set up last week – it is unclear whether by the army or by settlers – prevents them from bringing water to the village. Activists reported that in recent days families have also left the villages of Mu’arrajat and Radim.
Threats were also reported in another community, in the north of the Jordan Valley, Farisiya. Barakat, a local resident, said that five settlers arrived on Saturday night and told the residents to gather their things and leave.
“They were armed and they hit children in the legs with their weapons,” he said. He said that afterward, soldiers also arrived.
According to Israeli activists, in recent days the communities of al-Hadidiya and Samara in the Jordan valley have also received threats.
According to data from the Ministry of Health in Ramallah, 53 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank last week. Security sources estimate that about ten of the dead were shot by settlers.
On Wednesday last week, three Palestinians were killed in a settler attack on the village of Qusra, and the following day, two more Palestinians were shot to death in an attack by settlers in the central West Bank. Security sources said that the security situation in the West Bank is under control and that the clashes are limited. They plan to continue to operate in the area with the existing forces.
The IDF spokesperson said: “According to the assessment of the situation, there are ongoing checkpoints and monitoring of movement in various areas of the sector.”
The police did not respond to the question of whether the person who called and identified himself
as a police officer was indeed a police officer.