This is what violent Israeli settlers really want to do to West Bank Palestinians

A Palestinian leads a flock of sheep and goats near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim

Michal Braier reports in Haaretz on 31 March 2025:

A few weeks ago, on Friday evening, messages started flowing in: “Dozens of settlers attacked Jericho-area herding communities and stole sheep from the Ras Ein al-Auja village.” Village residents and activists continued to share updates: “300 sheep were stolen”; “600 sheep”; “they’re armed”; “The soldiers are there, but they’re backing the settlers.” Only on Saturday morning did the full scale of the incident become clear: around 1,500 sheep were stolen, the entire stock of an extended family.

For a Palestinian herding community, livestock robbery is not merely an act of theft; it is the collapse of their entire way of life and livelihood. Both people and livestock struggle to survive amidst relentless attacks by violent settlers. If this devastation continues, it will likely force the community to flee. And this is, in fact, the intended goal.

-Ras Ein al-Auja is located close to the spring of Ein al-Auja, north-west of Jericho. It is the largest herding community in the West Bank, comprised of about 150 families who have lived in the area since the late 1970s, on privately owned Palestinian land. Despite various limitations imposed by Israel, such as restricting access to grazing areas under the guise of “closed military zones,” preventing construction and refusing to connect the community to essential infrastructure, the community has managed to maintain their lifestyle, with herding as their livelihood.

Like many herding communities in Area C, which is under full Israeli control, Ras Ein al-Auja has been targeted by settler violence since the early 2000s. Settlers established at least five illegal outposts in the area, which they call “farms.” The closest “farm” is located only 300 meters from the community.

The settlers roam the area with their herds and terrorize the Palestinian community: they graze their sheep on the Palestinians’ fields and even within the village’s residential area; they block their access to the local spring, the primary water source for both residents and their livestock; they destroy pastures, damage property, and have even set homes on fire. And, as described above, they steal sheep, falsely claiming that Palestinians stole from them first.

Since October 7, settler assaults on Ras Ein al-Auja have significantly escalated in both frequency and aggression. Resident have been physically threatened and their access to pasture has become increasingly unsustainable. Women and children refrain as much as possible from leaving the home for fear of violence, and visitors have stopped coming. The community’s life has been completely disrupted.

In the meantime, Israeli security forces are turning a blind eye. Many of the attacks and thefts have been reported to the authorities by activists on site or by the residents themselves. Yet the Israeli army, border patrol and police remain indifferent to the situation, usually dismissing complaints without taking substantial action. Data shows that approximately 94% of these cases end without an indictment. Sometimes, Israeli security forces actively back the settlers, distancing or even detaining the assaulted Palestinians rather than the settlers. The residents are thus left to cope on their own.

Just weeks ago, coordination between Israel’s Civil Administration, now under the direct authority of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and these violent settlers was laid bare, when Israel’s Commissioner of Government Property and Abandoned Lands in the West Bank announced its intention to allocate 2,400 dunams of grazing land around Ras Ein al-Auja.

The announcement does not specify to whom the land will be allocated. However, it will almost certainly be granted to the very settlers already working to forcibly displace the Palestinian community.

Instead of bearing the consequences of their violence, these settlers are likely to be rewarded with legal permission to literally sit at the doorstep of Palestinian residents and take over their grazing lands. If this happens, it’s highly likely that the community will be forced to flee, just like the other 20 West Bank Palestinian communities expelled by settler violence since the Gaza War broke out.

Let’s not fool ourselves. The blatant violence exhibited by settlers is a direct extension of state-sanctioned violence that has targeted herding communities for years. While Israel gleefully expands the surrounding settlements, it refuses to acknowledge the basic rights of Palestinian communities, who have lived in the area for decades. Indeed, allocating grazing land and settler violence are two sides of the same coin. The objective is to drive Palestinian residents out of the West Bank’s Area C, toward full annexation of the territory. To do so, Israeli authorities seek to entrap Palestinians in as small an area as possible, so as not to disturb their expansionist ambitions, while depriving Palestinians of their basic rights and freedoms.

Israel, as the exclusive sovereign over Area C, is obligated under international law to protect Palestinian herding communities, who hold the status of protected community in an occupied area. Just recently, the Supreme Court ordered the state to prohibit settlers from entering the living and herding areas of Zanuta, a Palestinian community violently displaced by settlers in the South Hebron Hills, and ensure the safety and security of the Palestinian residents, their homes, herds and lands. Therefore, this precedent already exists and can be applied to Ras Ein al-Auja as well.

As the work of Bimkom—Planning and Human Rights demonstrates, the Zanuta case study can be achieved through relatively straightforward measures: establishing an “interim planning boundary,” around these communities, encompassing both residential areas and nearby grazing and agricultural lands. Entering this area would be restricted only to residents and their visitors, and no homes or infrastructure would be demolished within it.

We must not accept the current government’s attempts to reward violent settlers with additional land grabs in Area C. Instead, guaranteeing a minimal area that the Ras Ein al-Auja community can safely inhabit should be a first and critical step toward upholding essential human rights standards for the most vulnerable communities of this land.

Michal Braier is an architect and urban planner specializing in urban political geography. Braier serves as Head of Research and Publications at Bimkom – Planning and Human Rights.

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