‘High Court decision worthless’ – Israeli settlers drive out Palestinians returning to their West Bank village

Settlers and soldiers in the area of Mu’arrajat, July 2025. According to an activist in the village, an hour before settlers torched a building, another arson attempt occurred which they managed to get under control

Hagar Shezaf reports in Haaretz on 3 August 2025:

Bedouin villagers from Mu’arrajat, north of Jericho, who tried to return to their village on Thursday, were forced to flee a second time after settlers torched a building, despite an Israeli court ruling ordering their return.

The villagers were expelled initially in early July following assaults by settlers. Still, they began returning last week after the High Court of Justice issued a temporary injunction in an appeal in the case, ordering the army to coordinate their return to the village.

On Thursday, 50 villagers and leftist activists went to the village, accompanied by the IDF, to restore buildings destroyed by settlers. At night, the soldiers left the village, after confiscating a car with building equipment from the Palestinians, at which point settlers arrived, set fire to one building and tried to set another alight.

“The settlers came and torched a building,” says Suleiman, a villager. “We want [the IDF] to protect us. The settlers destroyed our homes, the court’s decision is worthless. We fled from there.”  He said that shortly before the settlers arrived at the scene, he saw a drone in the sky and thought it was sent to verify that the army had left.

Doron Meinert, an activist with Looking at the Occupation in the Eye who was at the village, said that, an hour before the burning of the building Suleiman had mentioned, there was another arson attempt which was put out. He said that the activists called the army and the police to report the arson attempts. An hour later, a police officer came, who did not believe them, claiming that there were observation outposts protecting them, and left. After the second arson attack, the villagers decided to leave.

The High Court’s temporary injunction was issued in a petition filed by Adv. Netta Amar-Shiff, who requested that the army actively protect the villagers. During the hearing, she said on behalf of the villagers that the active protection they requested included building a fence, a guard company, cameras, and a gate.

The High Court wrote that consideration should be given to declaring the area closed to Israelis, but the court did not order the state to comply with the villagers’ other requests.

“Just like a beaten child isn’t returned to the abusive home until the abusive parent is removed, there is no expectation that an expelled community would return to Mu’arrajat without the settlers being officially removed and sealed off from the village,” said Amar-Shiff upon receiving the High Court’s decision. The petition is still pending.

The expulsion from Mu’arrajat was one of the largest in the West Bank since the outbreak of the war. The villagers say that 50 families used to live there, but they began to leave in the past two years because of intensifying settler assaults and violence.

The IDF said that a report was received about an arson attack in the village on Thursday, and “When the report was received, forces rushed to the scene, and after searching the area, no suspects were identified. The incident was transferred to the Israel Police.”

The army added that they had confiscated a car with equipment belonging to Palestinian residents “by law, after the civilians began using it to build infrastructure in a prohibited place.”

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