Twenty-four Palestinian families in the village of Zanuta in the south of the West Bank dismantled their primitive homes made of tin, tents, and their sheep pens, and packed their belongings to return to the town of Al-Dhaheriya, south of Hebron, after repeated settler attacks on them and their property, while remaining families requested protection.

In a scene that brings to mind the Nakba of 1948, families left, sadness and grief overwhelming their feelings, while pain and a feeling of betrayal overwhelmed 12 families who decided to stay and be patient, including the family of the young man Adel Al-Tal, who was overcome with tears, and his mother whenever anyone asked them about their fate.

Al-Tal told Al-Jazeera Net that he, his brothers, and his mother decided to stay in the village despite the risk, while 24 other families were forced to leave.

The residents of the community work in agriculture and livestock raising and own thousands of dunums (a dunum is equal to a thousand square metres) of agricultural land used for rain-fed crops and pastures for their sheep, but settlements and settlement outposts have begun to surround it from all sides.

The population's suffering began decades ago, but was doubled by settler attacks that became almost daily with the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip on October 7th.

Sadness and helplessness

Al-Tal says that the settlers do not stop their attacks, and with the presence of the Israeli army, "with the start of the war, until today, there is no sleep, no eating, no drinking. The (dirt) roads are closed. We cannot leave or move away from the village."

The young Palestinian man, who is keen with his mother to follow the news of Gaza, does not hide that he shares his elderly mother’s crying over their condition, their helplessness, and the absence of any protection from any party, pointing out that all their contacts with Palestinian legal and official bodies did not provide them with protection or even the slightest sense of security.

Regarding the conditions that were most oppressive and forced them to leave, Al-Tal says, “The settlers came a few days ago and destroyed our house and cars and beat us all, including my mother. This was repeated with my uncle and his wife, so the conditions were stronger than the majority’s ability to endure.”

He pointed out that the students did not attend the only basic school in the village that is at risk of demolition since the start of the aggression on Gaza due to the danger to their movement on the one hand, and the inability of teachers to reach it on the other hand.

For his part, Nasr Nawajaa, a field researcher for the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem and a resident of the Susiya community south of Hebron, which is also threatened with deportation, points to the increase in settler attacks with the start of the war in Gaza.

Settlers in army uniform

Nawajaa added that the families deported from the Zanuta community suffered from the threat of settlers for decades, and the settlers are now acting without accountability or oversight and see the current situation as an opportunity to displace the largest number of families from Area C.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, he indicated that a number of other families in other communities south of Hebron received warnings from settlers, including 4 families in the Anizan community near the Zanuta community southeast of Al-Dhahiriya, and two families in the Susiya community southwest of the town of Al-Samu.

He added, "In light of the current events, settler militias find an opportunity to attack Palestinian communities, harass their people, and pressure them to leave."

He said that he documented testimonies of residents in which they said that settlers known among them for their frequent attacks were raiding homes wearing Israeli army uniforms.

He continued, "Two families from the Al-Nawajaa family, numbering 24 members, received a few hours' notice to leave the village of Susiya, and 4 families numbering 35 people in the Anizan community have already left due to settlers' attacks and to preserve their safety and lives."

The human rights researcher explained that “there is no means of protection or international or human rights intervention to protect the residents.” However, he talked about consultations for legal action regarding the two families in the Susya community, without placing any hope in the Israeli courts in the current situation.

He said that the success in deporting two families later meant the deportation of the entire population of 250 people, and most of their homes were at risk of demolition from previous years.

30 thousand are threatened with displacement

According to data from the government’s Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, about 30,000 Palestinians living in about 250 Palestinian communities in Area C of the West Bank are threatened with deportation, and some of them have already been deported.

The Authority's popular action official, Abdullah Abu Rahma, told Al Jazeera Net that settler attacks have increased significantly after the arrival of the current Israeli government in late 2022, and they increased further with the outbreak of the Gaza war.

He added, "Since the start of the aggression on Gaza, we have monitored 315 settler attacks that caused the death of 8 citizens, the last of whom was a farmer while picking olives in the northern West Bank," while the number of attacks since the beginning of the year exceeded 1,600, leaving a total of 17 martyrs.

He said that settler attacks by force of arms are largely concentrated by the "Hill Youth" settlement groups east of Ramallah in the central West Bank, to the south of Nablus in the north of the West Bank, including the Jordan Valley area, targeting farmers and Palestinian communities in an attempt to pressure them and push them to leave, and they have already succeeded. In the displacement of a number of communities.

Arming and authorization to kill

He said that most of the communities in Area C in the Jordan Valley region in the north, up to Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, in the south, were “targeted systematically and by force of arms to force citizens to leave their lands.”

He pointed out that the Israeli government's arming of about 26,000 settlers and changing the rules of shooting allowed the killing of Palestinians even without justification.

It is noteworthy that Area C, where settlers target communities, constitutes about 61% of the area of the West Bank and is subject to full Israeli security control in accordance with the Oslo Accords, while Area B, which is subject to Palestinian civilian and Israeli security control, constitutes 21% of the area of the West Bank, and the areas represent About 18% of the West Bank is supposed to be under complete Palestinian control.