The Displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank Extends to Area B Under Official Israeli Cover

SadaNews - The practices of evicting Palestinians from their homes and lands are no longer confined to Area C, which is under full Israeli control, but have recently started to extend to Area B, which is administratively controlled by the Palestinian Authority. This represents a qualitative development in which these operations increasingly involve direct participation from the Israeli army, whether by preventing residents from returning to their homes or by actively intervening alongside settlers during the eviction process.

According to an extensive report published today, Monday, by Haaretz newspaper, this shift reflects the transfer of the eviction pattern that has been used in recent years to empty Area C of Palestinian communities to Area B, despite the fact that Israel, its army, and the settlers have no legal authority to evict residents from there or prevent them from returning.

Tarqumiyah: Forced Eviction in Area B and Prevention of Return

In late November 2023, dozens of residents from the town of Tarqumiyah, west of Hebron, attempted to accompany Palestinian families to their homes located on the outskirts of the town within Area B, after they had been expelled from there in October 2023 by settlers.

Upon their arrival, they found a gate erected by the settlers at the border between Areas B and C, preventing access to five isolated Palestinian homes. During the attempted return, armed settlers arrived in four-wheel-drive vehicles, joined by soldiers from the Israeli army.

According to testimonies documented by the newspaper, a captain among the soldiers declared to the residents: "This is my land here, and you are forbidden to be in this place." When asked to present a military order justifying the eviction, he replied: "There is no order. I am the law, and I decide here."

Without declaring the area as a closed military zone, the soldiers began firing stun grenades and tear gas to disperse the residents, while settlers, some of whom were part of emergency teams from a nearby settlement, participated in the eviction of the Palestinians from around the houses. The intervention only stopped after a higher-ranking officer arrived, who asked the settlers to move away and released the detained Palestinians.

One of the women who was expelled from her home in Tarqumiyah recounted that settlers invaded her house while she was with her child, threatening her that if she did not leave immediately, "they would take the child." Her child, about nine years old, added that the settlers said: "If your mother does not leave, we will kill her or you," noting that they tied him up with wire.

Upon returning later, the family found the house destroyed, its contents stolen, and racist writings painted on the walls, including inciting slogans, along with religious symbols, in a scene that reflects the extent of the vandalism that targeted the home.

The Northern Jordan Valley: Control Expands from C to B

In the northern Jordan Valley, near the village of Beit Hassan, the Abu Saif families, each with ten children, were forced to leave their homes after years of escalating harassment. According to testimonies, soldiers from the Israeli army came to the house accompanied by a settler who owns a nearby farm and informed the family that they had a week to leave. Security cameras show the soldiers saying: "We do not want to see anyone here, neither the woman nor the children."

The house is located just a few meters inside Area B, but after the family left, the settler's control expanded in the area, preventing Palestinian farmers from accessing their agricultural lands. One of them said that the settler explicitly told him that "all this land will be mine one day," while another confirmed that every attempt to approach his land ends with the settler appearing and threatening him.

Repetitive Pattern: Summoning the Army to Evict Palestinians

In subsequent petitions filed by human rights organizations, a repetitive pattern was documented indicating that if Palestinians refused to leave their lands at the request of the settler, the latter would call the army, which intervened to evict the Palestinians, sometimes by declaring the area a closed military zone, and sometimes through searches or temporary detentions.

In the village of Attara near Ramallah, a settlement outpost was established within Area B, close to the home of a 65-year-old Jerusalemite who had legally purchased the land about 25 years ago. Following the establishment of the outpost, the army was summoned to the site and imposed a closed military order, under which he and his neighbors were forced to leave their homes, while settlers were allowed to stay.

The man stated that soldiers knocked on his door and ordered him to leave, adding: "I told them this is my house, but I respected the order and left. Later, I discovered that they had expelled us and allowed the settler to stay." When he attempted to return days later to feed his dogs, he found the house looted and destroyed, while the police refused to intervene on the grounds that he was not present in the house during the incursion.