In West Bank Village, a New Israeli Order Enables Settler Attacks While Claiming to Prevent ThemThe Israeli military declared the Palestinian village of Taybeh a closed military zone to "maintain order" but residents say settlers are still allowed to raid the area.
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TAYBEH, Occupied West Bank*—On Sunday, the Israeli military declared the Palestinian village of Taybeh in the occupied West Bank a closed military zone, claiming the order was aimed to prevent escalating attacks by marauding Israeli settlers. It ostensibly bars Israelis and foreigners from entering the area. But residents of the village and the surrounding area told Drop Site News that the military order is designed to further isolate Taybeh from the outside world, barring solidarity activists from the area while allowing settler attacks to continue. One of the few Christian-majority Palestinian villages in the West Bank, Taybeh has come under growing attacks by Israeli settlers who have expanded colonial outposts encircling it over the past several weeks. “The order says that Israelis and foreigners are prohibited from entering the area. What about the settler roaming around the area? What is he? Is he Israeli or not? Why is he in the area?,” said Jack Abed, the priest of the Greek Catholic Church in Taybeh. “This order is intended to prevent human rights defenders from being present to defend us against what these settler thugs are doing—attacking us in an extremely brutal manner.” The observation was echoed by Nayef Kaabneh, head of the Bedouin community in Taybeh that lives in the lands around the village. “They told us the area had been declared a closed military zone to stop the settlers from coming here. But it turned out that was all lies. The settlers still come here, while the activists are prevented from coming to us,” Kaabneh said. “They want to isolate us so they can come after us.” Kaabneh recounted a recent incident when a settler arrived in the area followed by several international solidarity activists. “We called the police and the army. The army came and said, ‘This is a closed military zone. Leave.’ So the activists left, and the settler left. But the settler just went over there, and once the army left, he came back. And the activists didn’t come back. So the order is really aimed at the activists, not the settlers,” he said. On Tuesday, the Israeli military issued a similar decree, announcing a military closure on the villages of Kufr Qallil and Jalud, both in the northern Nablus governorate, again claiming it was necessary to protect Palestinian residents from settlers. Despite occasional statements by Israeli authorities that it does not tolerate attacks by settlers, collaboration by Israeli forces in settler attacks is well established. A UN report by the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory in June concluded that Israeli authorities are directly involved in settler attacks that have killed, injured, and displaced Palestinian communities in the West Bank. “The increasing participation of Israeli security forces in settler attacks amounts to a de facto collapse of the distinction between settlers and soldiers,” the report said. The commission found that “settler violence in the West Bank functions as a means of implementing Israeli State policy, with the State and violent settler groups and individuals working towards the same strategic objectives, including the maintenance of the unlawful occupation, the entrenchment of illegal Israeli settlements, the annexation of Palestinian territory and the displacement of Palestinians from their land.” It added, “Israeli authorities have enabled such attacks through financial and military support while Israeli judicial and law enforcement authorities have granted impunity for settler violence for decades.” While attacks by Israeli settlers and soldiers on Palestinians in the West Bank have been a frequent occurrence for years, they have accelerated sharply since October 2023 in parallel with Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, with over 1,100 Palestinians killed and tens of thousands forcibly displaced. Last month, the UN warned that attacks by Israeli settlers and the creation of settlements and outposts have hit “an all-time high.” Over the past two and a half weeks, the attacks escalated even further following a raid by settlers on the village of Tell that ended with four Palestinians and two settlers being killed. Over the past week alone, there have been over 500 reported attacks, according to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission. Palestinians in the village of Taybeh, which is home to some 1,500 people and lies several kilometers northeast of Jerusalem and Ramallah, said that the settler violence has become all but intolerable. Just over a third of Taybeh—including most of the built up section of the village—is designated as Area B, a classification under the Oslo Accords where the Palestinian Authority is in charge of civil administration while Israel officially retains security control. The rest of Taybeh’s lands are designated as Area C, where Israel officially exercises full civil and security control. “There were attacks before, but nothing like what we’re seeing these days,” Kaabneh said. “Over the past 15 days, the settlers have been coming two or three times a day, in the morning and in the evening. They’ve really intensified the pressure on us.” “They want to forcibly displace us,” he added. “God willing, we’ll remain patient, and God will give us the strength not to leave this place and to remain steadfast here.” Taybeh’s churches date back to the Fifth Century. “Taybeh is a Palestinian village, regardless of whether it’s Christian or Muslim,” Abed, the local priest, said. “The Jewish settler doesn’t distinguish—all he sees is a Palestinian.” Israeli settlers have also targeted Taybeh’s olive groves, which provide one of the primary sources of income to the village. Multiple residents told Drop Site that settlers bring sheep and other livestock to graze on their lands and use up the water in local wells and also bring camels to chew at the tops of the olive trees and ruin them. “The camels are destroying the trees because they’re such tall, large animals. The tops of the olive trees have been completely destroyed…. These are Roman era olive trees. It’s truly heartbreaking,” Fouad Maadi, a local resident, said. “Every aspect of life [is affected], everything. Commerce is finished, agriculture is finished, livestock is finished.” “It’s a campaign of revenge against us aimed at forcing us out of this land. But we’re staying here,” he added. “We’re not going to leave, no matter what.” * A journalist in the West Bank contributed reporting. Drop Site News Middle East Research Fellow Jawa Ahmad also contributed to this report. 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