By: Wa’ad Abou Aseeda

https://www.maan-ctr.org/magazine/article/4724/

A major Israeli escalation in the uprooting and displacement of Palestinian Bedouin communities in the West Bank

Exclusive to Environment and Development Horizons (Afaq magazine):

According to statistics from Al-Baydar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights, the number of Palestinian Bedouins is estimated at around 400,000 people, distributed across more than 212 Bedouin communities and 22 permanent Bedouin villages.

Most of these communities trace their origins to the Naqab, the Bedouins’ ancestral homeland, from which they were displaced during the 1948 Palestinian Nakba. They faced additional  displacement after 1967, and again during the 1980s, continuing to suffer from forced relocations to this very day, amid ongoing Israeli occupation policies that threaten their existence and their land.

The Bedouin communities are not merely population clusters, but rather an integral part of the Palestinian social structure, carrying the memory of history while confronting the challenges of the present between steadfastness and ongoing displacement.

October 7 and the Escalation of Attacks

Rasem Shaaban, Commissioner of External Relations at Al-Baydar Organization, stated that before October 7, 2023, the Israeli occupation had been attempting to impose various forms of harassment on Bedouin communities through its forces and settlers. However, these attempts were met, first, with the steadfastness of Palestinians remaining on their lands, and second, with international pressure that prevented the depopulation of certain areas, such as Khan al-Ahmar, which became a symbol of popular resistance and international support, particularly from the European Union and the United Nations.

But after October 7, as Shaaban described, “things got out of control.” The occupation took advantage of the world’s focus on its aggression in Gaza to speed up its settlement expansion plans. This was clearly reflected in the statement of Israel’s Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, who declared openly: “We want larger areas with fewer people”, a statement that clearly points to the ongoing project of ethnic cleansing taking place on the ground.

According to Al-Baydar Organization, these policies have been reflected on the ground into a direct and systematic displacement of 67 Bedouin communities since October 7, inhabited by between 600 and 800 people. Most of these communities are located in the central West Bank, particularly in the eastern areas of Ramallah governorate and the regions surrounding Jericho and the Jordan Valley.

Hassan Mleihat, General Supervisor of the organization, explained that since that date, these communities have been subjected to over 10,000 violations, including physical assaults and beatings, burning and destroying homes, damaging schools, and attacks on children and teachers. The violations have not only targeted people but also their sources of livelihood, settlers have taken livestock, ruined crops, and let their cattle graze on Bedouin farmlands, aiming to weaken their economic situation and force them to leave.

Infrastructure and basic services have also been targeted. The Al-Auja River, which supplied these communities with drinking and irrigation water, dried up, while solar panels were destroyed or stolen to prevent access to electricity. The occupation has also imposed strict restrictions on Bedouin communities, limiting the movement of shepherds and their animals, which has forced many residents to sell their livestock under pressure.

Mleihat affirms that these measures are part of a broader policy targeting Area C, through what he calls the “reshaping of the area’s geography,” aiming to remove Palestinian presence and create a Jewish population majority in those regions, serving political objectives, foremost among them the creation of a chain of settlements along the eastern side of the West Bank.

He added that “the total area seized in Area C, through military orders, confiscation of natural reserves, and allocations for so-called state use and settler grazing, has reached 786,000 dunums,” noting that “30% of this land had been inhabited by Bedouin communities.” These policies reveal the serious danger facing the Bedouins, as around 70 Bedouin communities are at constant and immediate risk of displacement , most notably 46 communities in the Jerusalem desert, in addition to dozens of others in the Jordan Valley. Although many have already been displaced, those that remain continue to stand firm, facing daily policies of pressure and displacement in an ongoing struggle to survive.

E1 and the Threat of Displacement

The E1 settlement project represents the most dangerous plan threatening the Bedouin communities of the Jerusalem desert, not merely as another expansion of settlements, but as a tool for removing Palestinian presence in areas of strategic importance for the entire Palestinian people.

According to Hassan Mleihat, implementation of the project’s first phase would eliminate the Bedouin communities situated between the Ma’ale Adumim settlement and Jerusalem city, most notably Jabal al-Baba. If the project is fully completed, extending its plan to the Dead Sea as part of what is known as the “Greater Jerusalem Project”, it would destroy the remaining 46 Bedouin communities, effectively ending Palestinian presence from the Jerusalem desert and changing the population balance in favor of settlers.

Mleihat further explains:

“The E1 project is among the most dangerous of all. It had been planned long before October 7 (2023), but that date accelerated its implementation. The occupation managed, within a short time, to carry out what it had been planning for over twenty years, using the regional and political situation to bypass all obstacles”.

Rasem Shaaban, Commissioner of External Relations at Al-Baydar Organization, added that the Israeli government reached an agreement with the 'Municipality of Ma’ale Adumim Settlement’ to expand the settlement and establish over 4,000 housing units on the lands of forcibly displaced Bedouins, in complete disregard for international conventions and laws.

In light of these plans, the E1 project emerges as a central instrument in Israel’s policy of emptying the Jerusalem desert of its Palestinian inhabitants, isolating Bedouin communities, and imposing a new demographic reality that serves settlement expansion while breaking any natural connection between Palestinian lands.

Translated by: Rasha Abu Dayyeh