West Bank Bedouins Face Repeated Displacement

Why this is here: Since January 2023, settler attacks and restrictions have displaced more than 5,900 people from 117 communities across the West Bank.

Abu Najjeh, a mukhtar from the occupied West Bank, recounted his Bedouin community’s seventh displacement since 1948. His family, part of the Kaabneh clan, originally lived in the Naqab Desert before being expelled during the 1948 Nakba. They have since been repeatedly forced to move by Israeli forces and, more recently, by escalating violence from Jewish settlers.

After finding a semblance of stability in Ein Samiya for over 40 years, settlers began harassing the community around 2019, restricting access to resources and ultimately forcing their departure in 2023. Relocating to Khirbet Abu Falah offered little respite, as settlers followed and renewed attacks.

The UN reports over 5,900 people from 117 West Bank communities have faced displacement since January 2023 due to settler violence, with 45 communities completely erased. At least 1,090 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 2023. Abu Najjeh expressed a desperate need for support, fearing continued attacks and the loss of his community’s way of life, while acknowledging the ongoing struggle to simply survive.