The silent displacement in the West Bank
A child sleeps outside after settler attacks forced the family off its West Bank land following 7 October 2023
David Lombeida introduces his photo-essay in Mondoweiss on 12 November 2024:
While the world watches Gaza unfold, a shadow is cast in the occupied West Bank where a surge of unprecedented violence and displacement is taking place.
Abdul Rahman from Wadi al-Seeq states, “It became a totally different life between Oct 6th, and Oct 7th”, after his entire community was forced to flee for fear of their lives. Since the October 7, 2023 20 Palestinian communities in the West Bank, comprising over a thousand people have been displaced due to settler violence. Additionally, the number of Palestinians displaced by settler violence on average per month has more than doubled, totaling 280 people per month.
In tandem with settler violence, home demolitions by the Israeli government have also increased. In a recent report by the United Nations Humanitarian Agency (OCHA), its states from Oct 7th to June 3rd, 2024, the Israeli government destroyed over 900 homes, displacing over 2000 people through demolitions. In January OCHA stated there was a “36 percent increase in displacement since the beginning of 2023.”
The following images were taken in the South Hebron Hills and Jordan Valley of the West Bank. The photographs document five families that have been forced out of their communities due to settler violence or lost their homes from demolitions, and in some cases, due to both. Their stories share an ongoing reality of displacement and settler harassment throughout the West Bank. Every single family I spoke with is still being harassed by the same settlers who displaced them and reported their homes to the army for demolition.
Rammun – Jordan Valley
Abdul Rahman Mustafa Kabnaah lived with his wife and seven children in Wadi al-Seeq – a small village in the Jordan Valley consisting of 31 families. The village started having problems with settlers when an outpost (illegal settlement) was built nearby. From February until October 2023, the community experienced nearly daily harassment. But after Oct 7th the settlers increased their harassment to new heights and prevented the community from using any source of water and blocked off entrances for vehicles.