Rights group says families from Ain Ayoub near Ramallah fled due to arson attacks, livestock poisoning, and harassment by illegal Israeli settlers under army protection
Thirty Palestinian families dismantled their homes and left their area northwest of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Monday evening, following repeated illegal settler attacks and Israeli army raids, in what a local rights group described as a policy of “systematic forced displacement.”
The Al-Baydar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights of Bedouins said in a statement that illegal Israeli settlers, who were directly protected by Israeli forces, forcibly displaced the Arab al-Jahalin community in the Ain Ayoub area near the village of Deir Ammar.
It said the community had recently faced illegal settlers' attacks that included burning homes and storage structures, poisoning livestock, and intimidating women and children. The group said these assaults forced residents to leave in fear and chaos.
The rights group described the events in Ain Ayoub as “systematic forced displacement” aimed at uprooting Palestinians from their land to expand illegal Israeli settlements.
It said Israeli forces provided cover for illegal settlers during the assaults, part of an escalating wave of attacks on Bedouin communities in the West Bank.
The organization urged human rights and media organizations “to act immediately to document and publicize the events,” warning that continued violations without international intervention would lead to more displacement and attacks across the occupied territory.
Hassan Mleihat, Al-Baydar's general supervisor, told Anadolu that the relocation plan targeted 30 families with dozens of people each.
On Sunday evening, the Israeli army declared Ain Ayoub a closed military zone and barred entry to nonresidents, including foreign activists.
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, at least 1,013 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, according to the Health Ministry.
In an advisory opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
