Three years of Israel’s mass dispossession of West Bank Palestinians

Muhammad Ghawanmeh was forced out of his home in Ras Ein al-Auja in the occupied West Bank by Israeli settlers [Al Jazeera]

Al-Awsaj, occupied West Bank – On September 23, weeks before Israel’s parliamentary elections, ministers and lawmakers gathered on an occupied West Bank hilltop to inaugurate a new settlement, Metzoke Eretz, illegal under international law. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich used the ceremony to salute the settler outpost that made the eventual settlement possible.

“The first pioneering settlers who were here on the farm… we will lift them up as our greatest joy,” Smotrich said. “It shows that the method works: establish a farm, seize the land, prepare it, turn it into a community, move to the next point. There are many, many such heroes – those who prove they are not doing real estate. They are doing Zionism.”

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Metzoke Eretz was previously an outpost – the name given to the Jewish settlements illegal even under Israeli law – called Netzah Harel, established in 2023 in the middle of al-Muarrajat, a Bedouin community on private Palestinian land east of Ramallah. Alia Mleihat , 29, and others from the community remember those settlers well. “Of course, this outpost played a major role in displacing the Palestinian Bedouin communities in al-Muarrajat and the areas east of Ramallah,” said Alia, now living in a tent in al-Awsaj, a few kilometres away, after her forced displacement in July 2025. “[The Netzah Harel settlers] took part in every attack the settlers carried out on families, and confiscated sheep, under the protection of the Israeli police and army.”

Dror Etkes, founder of Israeli NGO Kerem Navot, said Smotrich’s description of his “method” was spot-on – except for one omission. “The political discourse skips the [Palestinian] expulsion chapter,” said Etkes, suggesting Smotrich and other politicians avoid doing so explicitly to avoid potential scrutiny from international criminal courts. “They want it to happen, and they know that it happens, and they let it happen.”

Haaretz reported that Metzoke Eretz is one of 19 outposts legalised by the Netanyahu government after nearby Palestinians were violently expelled.

The view from Muhammad Ghawanmeh’s home in al-Awsaj, looking out towards an Israeli outpost on a hill in the background [Al Jazeera]

‘Not a single moment of joy’

Jamal Mleihat, Alia’s 45-year-old uncle, sits with eight relatives nestled inside a bare concrete-block house on the ridge in al-Awsaj, with his daughter Sewar hanging off his lap.

Below the ridge, rows of young trees climb a cultivated slope towards a factory at the foot of the hills. The ridge itself is rock and dust, now home to about 25 families from al-Muarrajat, among others forcibly displaced in the past three years.

“Before October 7 [2023 Hamas attack on Israel, and Israel’s subsequent genocidal war on Gaza], we were in the pastures – no harassment, we moved around freely,” said Jamal, a father of seven. “We had healthcare. We had a school. We had water in the same encampment. Life was a million times better than this.”

Since October 7, the Israeli government has stepped up its raids on the occupied West Bank, while settlers have largely been given free rein to pursue a pogrom against Palestinians, with little pushback from within Israel.

Just below Jamal’s shelter, alone on a slope, Muhammad Ghawanmeh lives with his wife and seven children. His toilet does not work; he relies on water tanks and has almost no electricity. The rocky track to the Mleihats’ area is too steep to drive. He built a fence around the house after recent settler attacks, and now faces constant drone surveillance from Israeli settlers.

Ghawanmeh is from Ras Ein al-Auja , which had been the largest Bedouin community in the central Jordan Valley – so robust that humanitarian coordinators told Al Jazeera in October 2023 that the village’s displacement was unlikely. Instead, its more than 600 Palestinian inhabitants experienced the largest single-community expulsion of Bedouins in the last three years, after repeated attacks by settlers from four surrounding outposts.

“From my childhood, the land was open. The water was open. We were living happily. We’d graze 10 kilometres, 15 kilometres with the sheep, and come back,” he said. “Today we can’t go 500 metres from the house.”

His flock has shrunk from about 300 to roughly 100 physically thinning sheep, which he now must buy fodder for, instead of letting them graze on the land, which he now says is largely forbidden by Israeli settlers and the army.

Jamal Mleihat with his daughter Sewar in al-Awsaj in the occupied West Bank [Al Jazeera]

‘Nothing was left except this’

A few hundred metres beyond Ghawanmeh’s fence, a white trailer and a few containers mark an Israeli outpost, established about six months ago on a hill overlooking Highway 90 and the displaced families along the ridge. Two months ago, Ghawanmeh said, soldiers came to his house and told him he could no longer pass to the highway. The settlers, he said, “are with the army”.

“You leave this place, go to another one, and it follows you – the same problem, unsolved,” Ghawanmeh said. “Every three months, there’s a displacement operation.”

Al-Awsaj barely existed as an inhabited place before, but Bedouin from different depopulated communities have now converged on this barren ridge, overlooking land largely declared – again – off-limits to grazing.

Allegra Pacheco, head of the West Bank Protection Consortium, calls al-Awsaj “basically a refugee camp, an internally displaced camp, that we see in other countries. But here, there’s no safe space. Wherever people like in al-Awsaj go, they’re chased by settlers or their tents are demolished by the Israelis.”

“It’s been very painful to get the authorities, the Palestinian authorities, the international leaders, to recognise that this is a mass displacement happening in front of us, and people have nowhere to go,” she said.

Project of forced transfer

In the West Bank, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) counts at least 130 Palestinian communities fully or partly displaced by settler attacks and related restrictions since January 2023, and more than 6,400 people uprooted. According to the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, since October 7, 2023 there have been almost 15,000 attacks by settlers, with 66 Palestinians killed by settlers. OCHA says the rate of settler attacks increased from about three a day before October 7, 2023, to almost seven per day this year.

The increase in displacement after October 2023 can also be seen in the numbers for that year. Nearly 80 percent of all Palestinians displaced by settler violence in 2023 were uprooted after October 7.

A report by Peace Now and Kerem Navot found that Israeli farm outposts had seized roughly 18 percent of the West Bank by the end of 2025. “We’re talking about a land area bigger than the size of the Gaza Strip altogether,” Pacheco said.

“What we’re seeing is a continuous, sustained project of forced transfer and mass destruction,” she said. “Israeli authority demolitions and destructions by the Israeli army, and Israeli civilians – armed groups – carrying out destructions and sowing fear to push people out.”

Israeli NGO B’Tselem’s September report, “The Elimination Project”, links this to Smotrich’s 2017 “Decisive Plan”, which offers Palestinians three choices: live under Jewish supremacy, leave, or face violent repression.

“The Smotrich Plan has been implemented,” Pacheco said. “He laid out exactly what is going on now, and he’s very proud of his success. He now wants to transfer that success to [other areas of the West Bank], and also in the Galilee [an area in Israel with a large population of Palestinian citizens of Israel]. Wherever there are Palestinians living, he wants to make life so difficult that they will leave.”

With Smotrich exercising broad powers over the West Bank through the Settlement Administration within the Ministry of Defence, and leaders in the Israeli West Bank military command increasingly coming from far-right, settler backgrounds themselves, Palestinians across the West Bank describe a deepening symbiosis of military, police, administration and settlers in exacting Palestinian dispossession. “They all work together, like a cell, one completing the other,” said Jamal Mleihat. “The army, the police, the settlers – they’re the ones who displace, they’re the ones who establish the settlement, they’re the ones who take part in the thefts, in everything. And the army covers for them.”

Al Jazeera has reached out to the Israeli authorities for comment on this piece, but has yet to receive a response.

Smotrich has withheld part or all of the tax revenues Israel collects for the Palestinian Authority – roughly 60 percent of its income – for much of the past three years. The PA now struggles to provide the most basic of services. In al-Awsaj and elsewhere, that means classrooms that do not open. “The government school is shut down today, no salaries,” Ghawanmeh said.

There is no school bus; families pay for private transport, and “one day they study, one day they don’t, depending on the mood of the driver,” Jamal said. It has left the displaced alone on an inhospitable patch of rock.

“Palestinians have no protection in the West Bank,” said Pacheco. “They are completely vulnerable to assault, attempted murder, arson, invasion of their homes. The Israeli army is supposed to protect them and doesn’t. The Palestinian Authority can’t come in, and the international community is not protecting them.”

“We started to feel there’s no safety anywhere,” Ghawanmeh said. “Fear. Terror. Persecution. Ethnic cleansing. That’s what we feel.”

Amid the dispossession, Ghawanmeh looks out at the unwelcoming land he knows will not be his family’s refuge – only another transient stop. He sees his own brother now only once every month and a half or two. “The threats to Bedouin life have almost become extinction,” he said. “We now live in enclaves, separated.”

“For three years now, the day that’s passing is better than the one that’s coming,” Ghawanmeh said. “Yesterday is better than today. Today is better than tomorrow.”

穆罕默德·加瓦纳梅被以色列定居者赶出了他在被占领的约旦河西岸拉斯艾因奥贾的家。[半岛电视台]

约旦河西岸被占领区阿尔奥萨吉——9月23日，在以色列议会选举前几周，部长和议员们聚集在约旦河西岸一座被占领的山顶上，为一座名为“梅佐克·埃雷茨”（Metzoke Eretz）的新定居点举行落成典礼。该定居点违反国际法。财政部长贝扎莱尔·斯莫特里奇利用此次仪式向促成最终定居点建设的定居者前哨致敬。

“最早来到这片农场的拓荒者们……我们将把他们视为我们最大的荣耀，”斯莫特里奇说道。“这表明这种方法是行之有效的：建立农场，占领土地，整顿土地，将其发展成社区，然后迈向下一个阶段。这样的英雄有很多很多——他们用实际行动证明，他们不是在做房地产生意，而是在做犹太复国主义。”

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列表 2/3 “这不是朋友的行为”：以色列关闭英国领事馆的最后期限临近

列表 3（共 3 篇）：巴勒斯坦记者如何无视以色列的种族灭绝，重新定义新闻业

梅佐克·埃雷茨（Metzoke Eretz）的前身是一个名为内扎·哈雷尔（Netzah Harel）的前哨站——即使根据以色列法律，这些犹太人定居点也是非法的——它于2023年建立在穆阿拉贾特（al-Muarrajat）中心地带，穆阿拉贾特是位于拉马拉以东巴勒斯坦私人土地上的一个贝都因人社区。29岁的阿莉娅·姆莱哈特（Alia Mleihat）和社区里的其他居民对这些定居者记忆犹新。“当然，这个前哨站对驱逐穆阿拉贾特和拉马拉以东地区的巴勒斯坦贝都因人社区起到了重要作用，”阿莉娅说道。她在2025年7月被迫流离失所后，现在住在几公里外的奥萨吉（al-Awsaj）的一个帐篷里。“（内扎·哈雷尔的定居者）参与了定居者对居民家庭的每一次袭击，并在以色列警察和军队的保护下没收了羊群。”

以色列非政府组织“凯雷姆·纳沃特”（Kerem Navot）的创始人德罗尔·埃特克斯（Dror Etkes）表示，斯莫特里奇对其“方法”的描述非常准确——除了一个遗漏。“政治话语回避了（巴勒斯坦人）驱逐事件，”埃特克斯说道，他暗示斯莫特里奇和其他政客故意回避这一问题，是为了避免受到国际刑事法庭的潜在审查。“他们希望它发生，他们也知道它正在发生，所以他们放任它发生。”

《国土报》报道称，梅佐克·埃雷茨是内塔尼亚胡政府在附近巴勒斯坦人遭到暴力驱逐后合法化的 19 个前哨站之一。

从穆罕默德·加瓦纳梅位于奥萨吉的家中望出去，可以看到远处山上的以色列前哨站。[半岛电视台]

“没有一丝快乐”

阿莉娅的叔叔贾迈勒·姆莱哈特（Jamal Mleihat）今年 45 岁，他和八位亲戚挤在奥萨吉山脊上一间简陋的混凝土砖房里，他的女儿塞瓦尔（Sewar）挂在他的腿上。

山脊下方，成排的幼树沿着耕地向上生长，一直延伸到山脚下的工厂。山脊本身是岩石和尘土，现在居住着大约25户来自穆阿拉贾特的家庭，以及其他在过去三年中被迫流离失所的人们。

“在10月7日（2023年哈马斯袭击以色列，以及以色列随后对加沙发动种族灭绝战争）之前，我们还住在牧场上——没有骚扰，我们可以自由行动，”七个孩子的父亲贾迈勒说。“我们有医疗保健，有学校，营地里就有水。以前的生活比现在好一百万倍。”

自 10 月 7 日以来，以色列政府加大了对被占领的西岸地区的袭击力度，而定居者则被基本上放任自流，对巴勒斯坦人进行种族清洗，以色列国内几乎没有采取任何反抗措施。

在贾迈勒的住所下方不远处，穆罕默德·加瓦纳梅和妻子以及七个孩子独自住在山坡上。他的厕所坏了，只能依靠水箱，而且几乎没有电。通往姆莱哈茨地区的碎石路坡度太陡，车子开不上。在最近几次定居者袭击之后，他给房子周围建起了围栏，现在却要面对以色列定居者无人机的持续监视。

加瓦内赫来自拉斯艾因奥贾，这里曾是约旦河谷中部最大的贝都因人社区，其势力之强大，以至于人道主义协调员在2023年10月告诉半岛电视台，该村不太可能被驱逐。然而，在遭到周边四个定居点定居者的多次袭击后，该村600多名巴勒斯坦居民经历了近三年来规模最大的单一社区贝都因人驱逐事件。

“从我小时候起，土地就开阔，水源也充足。我们生活得很幸福。我们赶着羊群跑十公里、十五公里，然后回家，”他说。“现在我们连家门外500米都走不了。”

他的羊群已经从大约 300 只减少到大约 100 只，而且羊群明显变瘦。他现在不得不购买饲料来喂养这些羊，而不是让它们在自己的土地上吃草。他说，现在以色列定居者和军队基本上禁止他在自己的土地上吃草。

贾迈勒·姆莱哈特和他的女儿塞瓦尔在被占领的约旦河西岸的奥萨吉 [半岛电视台]

“除了这个，什么都没剩下。”

在加瓦内赫家围栏外几百米处，一辆白色拖车和几个集装箱标志着一个以色列前哨站，它大约六个月前建立在俯瞰90号公路和山脊上流离失所家庭的一座小山上。加瓦内赫说，两个月前，士兵来到他家，告诉他不能再去公路了。他说，这些定居者“是军队的人”。

“你离开这个地方，去到另一个地方，问题依然存在，没有解决，”加瓦内赫说。“每隔三个月，就要进行一次人口迁移行动。”

此前，阿瓦萨吉几乎没有人居住，但现在来自不同人口稀少社区的贝都因人聚集在这座荒芜的山脊上，俯瞰着再次被宣布为禁止放牧的土地。

西岸保护联盟负责人阿莱格拉·帕切科称奥萨杰“基本上就是一个难民营，一个境内流离失所者营地，就像我们在其他国家看到的那样。但在这里，没有安全的地方。像奥萨杰这样的人无论走到哪里，都会被定居者追赶，或者他们的帐篷会被以色列人拆毁。”

她说：“让当局、巴勒斯坦当局和国际领导人认识到，我们眼前正在发生大规模的人口流离失所，人们无处可去，这非常痛苦。”

强制转移项目

据联合国人道主义事务协调厅（OCHA）统计，自2023年1月以来，约旦河西岸至少有130个巴勒斯坦社区因定居者袭击及相关限制措施而全部或部分流离失所，超过6400人被迫离开家园。巴勒斯坦殖民和隔离墙抵抗委员会表示，自2023年10月7日以来，定居者发动了近15000起袭击，造成66名巴勒斯坦人死亡。OCHA称，定居者袭击事件的发生率从2023年10月7日之前的每天约3起增加到今年的每天近7起。

2023年10月之后流离失所人数的增加也可以从当年的数据中看出。2023年因定居者暴力而流离失所的巴勒斯坦人中，近80%是在10月7日之后被迫离开家园的。

“和平现在”和“凯雷姆·纳沃特”的一份报告发现，到2025年底，以色列农场前哨已经占领了西岸约18%的土地。“我们说的是比加沙地带总面积还要大的土地，”帕切科说。

她说：“我们看到的是一个持续不断的强制迁移和大规模破坏项目。以色列当局、以色列军队以及以色列平民——武装团体——都在进行破坏活动，散布恐惧，试图将人们驱逐出去。”

以色列非政府组织 B'Tselem 9 月份发布的报告《消除计划》将此与斯莫特里奇 2017 年的“决定性计划”联系起来，该计划为巴勒斯坦人提供了三个选择：生活在犹太人的统治下、离开，或者面临暴力镇压。

帕切科说：“斯莫特里奇计划已经实施。他详细阐述了现在的情况，并对自己的成功感到非常自豪。他现在想把这种成功复制到西岸其他地区，以及加利利（以色列境内巴勒斯坦公民人口众多的地区）。无论哪里有巴勒斯坦人居住，他都想让他们的生活变得极其艰难，迫使他们离开。”

由于斯莫特里奇通过国防部下属的定居点管理局对西岸行使着广泛的权力，而以色列西岸军事指挥部的领导人越来越多地来自极右翼定居者背景，西岸各地的巴勒斯坦人描述了军方、警察、行政部门和定居者之间日益加深的共生关系，共同剥夺巴勒斯坦人的土地。“他们像一个细胞一样协同运作，彼此配合，”贾迈勒·姆莱哈特说。“军队、警察、定居者——是他们驱逐巴勒斯坦人，是他们建立定居点，是他们参与盗窃，是他们参与一切。而军队则为他们提供掩护。”

半岛电视台已就此事联系以色列当局寻求置评，但尚未收到回复。

在过去三年里的大部分时间里，斯莫特里奇扣留了以色列为巴勒斯坦权力机构征收的部分或全部税款——约占其收入的60%。巴勒斯坦权力机构现在难以提供最基本的公共服务。在奥萨吉和其他一些地方，这意味着教室无法开放。“今天公立学校关闭了，没有工资发放，”加瓦内赫说。

这里没有校车；家长们只能自费接送孩子，“他们有时学习，有时不学习，全看司机心情，”贾马尔说。这使得流离失所的人们孤零零地生活在这片荒凉的岩石地带。

帕切科说：“巴勒斯坦人在西岸没有任何保护。他们完全容易受到袭击、谋杀未遂、纵火和房屋入侵。以色列军队本应保护他们，但却没有。巴勒斯坦权力机构无法介入，国际社会也没有保护他们。”

“我们开始觉得哪里都不安全了，”加瓦内赫说。“恐惧、恐怖、迫害、种族清洗，这就是我们感受到的。”

在流离失所的困境中，加瓦纳梅望着这片冷漠的土地，他知道这里不会成为他家人的避难所，而只会是又一个暂时的落脚点。他现在每隔一个半月或两个月才能见到自己的兄弟一次。“贝都因人的生存几乎已经岌岌可危，”他说，“我们现在生活在彼此隔绝的飞地里。”

“这三年来，每一天都比明天好，”加瓦内赫说。“昨天比今天好，今天又比明天好。”