By Diana Khwaelid — Northern West Bank — 8th May 2025
The Israeli occupation forces continue their aggression on the city of Tulkarm and its camp for the 102nd consecutive day, and for the 89th day on the Nur Shams camp East of the city with a continuous escalation of raids, inspections, and demolition of homes and infrastructure.
This afternoon, May 8th, I stood on one of the elevated areas overlooking the Nur Shams refugee camp. This area, called Al-Ahraash, is situated in the city of Tulkarem in the north of the West Bank.
The Israeli military operation there started in mid-January of this year and is currently ongoing. It is part of what Israel has termed the ‘Operation Protective Fence,’ which focuses on the camps in the northern West Bank, especially the Tulkarem, Nur Shams and Jenin camps. This is the most violent and destructive operation since the Second Intifada in 2002.
A view over the Nur Shams refugee camp.
It is in this context that a notification of the decision to demolish 48 houses in Nur Shams camp and 58 houses in Tulkarm refugee camp was recently issued by the Israeli military. Today, dozens of Palestinians displaced from Nur Shams camp — women, children, youth, men —were sitting around me, anxiously and painfully waiting for the decisive moment of demolition of their homes or that of their relatives, with bulldozers and other military machines. There is little they can do to prevent the destruction of the home where they grew up before their very eyes.
The Israeli occupation forces granted as little as two hours to the Palestinian inhabitants to leave their homes after receiving the demolition notice. We have, however, now been waiting for three hours, during which we have monitored the movement of the occupation forces on the main street of the Nur Shams refugee camp, including heavy bulldozers.
The continuation of the Israeli operation on the camps in the northern West Bank led to the displacement of about 4,200 families from the Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps and the destruction of 400 Palestinian homes completely and 2,573 homes partially, in addition to blocking home entrances with heavy fences.
Palestinian children anxiously await the demolition of their houses by the Israeli military.
While Israel as always claims the ‘Operation Protective Fence’ is fighting terrorism, it is itself an operation to terrorise all Palestinians in the West Bank. False arguments continue to be pushed and one crime after another are committed by Israel in all of Palestine, in the absence of international laws criminalising terrorism and war against civilians, who are now paying the price in both Gaza and the West Bank. It is possible that Israel is planning to destroy the camps entirely, as suggested by the fact that it has targeted all UNRWA offices in the West Bank camps, especially in Jerusalem. This completely contradicts their claims of counterterrorism operations.
Through this process, Israel is also trying to destroy the social and political fabric in Palestine. The residents of the camp are separated into separate cantons and the population composition is dismantled. This risks turning the refugee camps into ordinary residential neighbourhoods under heavy surveillance which includes security guards and checkpoints. There will soon be no refugee camps left.
This is a serious problem, since the denomination of Palestinian refugees as such is essential as evidence of the displacement of Palestinians in the 1948 Nakba and the ongoing Israeli occupation.
This money has been raised with collective effort and special thanks to the generosity of squatters, to give some financial support to poor/ working class folks from Bristol and surrounding areas who would like to work with ISM on the ground in Palestine.
This money was raised to fund individuals whose experience will benefit the collective – both on the ground in Palestine, and in the work in the international Palestine solidarity movement.
This money is a limited resource, and we ask those requesting it to consider this. This money could pay for a large portion of travel costs for 1-3 individuals, or a smaller portion of travel costs for more individuals. If we receive many requests within a short space of time, we will prioritise according to
need for money
long term commitment to struggle – including lived experience
someone who has had limited opportunities for international travel
longer periods of travel where possible (trips of under 1 month will not be eligible)
We don’t want making a request to be time consuming for you, but we would like you to share enough information to help make decisions if we have to choose between different requests. Please answer briefly the following:
when and for how long do you plan to travel?
how much are you requesting from the fund?
how are you paying for the rest of your travel expenses?
if the fund was not available, how would this impact your plans?
Share a bit about your relationship to the Palestinian struggle
Share a bit about how you see your relationship to the Palestinian struggle in your wider politics
what travel have you been able to experience (for politics or leisure) in the past years?
anything else you would like to share?
ISM volunteers go through a vouching system: we will share your request for use of the fund with the people vouching for you, for them to confirm that the information you have shared reflects your experiences.
This donation will remain earmarked for 24 months, until November 2026, when any balance remaining will be available for general ISM use.
In the remaining lands of Susiya that Palestinians are allowed on, and still have papers for, occupation forces have destroyed cisterns, caves and housing structures and denied building permits despite Israeli colonial courts’ recognition of the lands as Palestinian. As with 60% of the West Bank that is designated as “Area C” — i.e. under Israeli control — building permits are under the authority of the Israeli Civil Administration. While settlements expand and are constructed at an exponential rate, almost all building requests for Palestinians are denied.
Since 2010, multiple petitions have been submitted to Israel’s Supreme Court on behalf of the village residents regarding restricted access to their lands, violence against them, lack of law enforcement against violent settlers, and settler invasions into their lands – resulting in the Israeli army’s Central Command issuing a closed military zone order that forbids settlers from entering agricultural areas between Susya village and the settlement. This order has been renewed annually.
Since the escalation of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Palestinian residents have been almost entirely denied access to their agricultural lands, including just a few meters from their houses and even in areas designated as closed military zones for settlers. Consequently, villagers have lost two olive harvest seasons and two plowing seasons, resulting in severe loss of crops and livelihood. Instead of grazing their livestock on natural pastures, they have had to feed them with fodder, incurring substantial financial burdens.
Initially characterized by sporadic incidents of harassment, and isolated attacks on agricultural lands at the start of the genocide, these incidents have intensified into daily occurrences involving pogrom-like violence: organized and concerted attacks by settler militias. These have escalated even further since the (now collapsed) “ceasefire” of January 2025. (Remembering Dr. Refaat Alareer’s words here: “Ceasefire? What usually happens in occupied Palestine is that Palestinians cease, and Israel fires.”)
Invasions by settlers into agricultural lands have increased in frequency and expanded: settlers regularly bring their livestock onto cultivated Palestinian lands. This report details several incidents of settler violence against Palestinian residents in Susiya in recent weeks, but is incomplete and also does not cover the incidents of settlers trespassing onto Palestinian lands with their livestock – which they use as a form of intimidation, provocation, threat and an assertion of their domination. Repeated complaints by residents to both police and military authorities – including formal complaints with detailed documentation – have gone unanswered. Even when offenses were extensively documented with identifying details and photos of perpetrators, and with maps that clearly show the demarcations of the military orders showing boundaries where settlers are not allowed, no action is taken. State inaction regarding settler violence emboldens settlers to expand their activities from agricultural lands into the village itself, and to escalate their violence against residents. Since the beginning of this year alone, over 100 incidents involving grazing violations, harassment, and attacks by settlers have been documented, and threats and physical assaults – including shoving, beatings, stone-throwing at people, homes, vehicles, and even arson – have become routine occurrences.
In the context of the petition regarding the expulsion of residents, the state argued that it was acting to enforce law and public order in the villages, and this argument was accepted by the court. However, the court found it necessary to reiterate and emphasize that military and police authorities are obligated to protect the residents of the area from violence or violations of the law. The court further noted in its ruling on July 29, 2024:
“The picture painted by the petitioners’ claims is troubling, to say the least. In fact, even from the respondents’ claims, it can be understood that the response provided is incomplete, even if they believe they have done their utmost. It is worth reiterating that the petitioners are protected residents entitled to receive an adequate response from the authorities in the area, especially concerning repeated acts of violence against them. Accordingly, it is incumbent upon law enforcement agencies in the area to ensure the safety of the petitioners and maintain public order in the region, even under the complex circumstances of this period and its limitations. We believe that this ruling serves to clarify and emphasize these points.”
On the morning of March 17th in Susiya, Ahmad, a Palestinian farmer, went out with his flock to graze in the pastures behind his home. It was 6.30 a.m. and he was accompanied by two activists with International Solidarity Movement.
At 6.45 a.m., Ahmad noticed three masked settlers appear at the top of the hill that is bordering the nearby settlement. At least one of the three was clearly carrying a stick, and two of the three quickly descended on the valley, and began to hurl huge rocks at the families. The two were soon joined by seven more settlers – all of them masked, and slinging enormous rocks across the valley, at the Palestinian farmers who had been out with their sheep, and their families, including young children who were dressed in the school uniforms, and who were now being made late for school.
These nine settlers continued their attack: running up to the families, throwing rocks, running back and coming back again, each time getting closer and closer to the homes of the Palestinians. They continued to throw enormous rocks at the Palestinians and the handful of international volunteers responding to the scene, many of them narrowly missing heads, necks and legs. In the attack by the settlers, they injured 2 Palestinians – an older woman was hit by a stone in the eye, and left with a bruise, and settlers hit an elderly man in the foot.
The Israeli police had been called: upon their arrival, the masked settlers quickly fled back into the valley. In all this time, only notorious settler Shem Tov had remained unmasked.
He immediately rushed over to the police car, and coordinated with them to plan the arrest of Nasser, one of the Palestinians who was being stoned by settlers. This collusion of occupation forces – police and settlers – allowed the masked settlers to run away, back through the valley and up the hill to the illegal settlement. The police kept Nasser detained in the vehicle, while his children stood crying in front of the police van, anxiously asking for their father’s release. Shem Tov sat in the front seat of the vehicle, and when he left, made kissing noises and winked at the young girls in their school uniforms. Shem Tov sexually harassing Palestinians is well-documented.
On February 26th, Ahmad was attacked while he was out shepherding on his land. Sometime between 11 am and noon, he was beaten by 5-6 settlers who beat his legs, his back and his face, for which he needed to seek treatment in the hospital.
On March 2nd, right in the middle of Iftar – when families gather together to break the day’s fast after sundown – at around 6.15 p.m., settlers tried to break into two homes in the village of Susiya – they broke windows and threw stones, at the families and at 2 responding activists. The settlers left and soon horrible screams were heard from the direction of Ahmad’s house. Masked and armed, the settlers had descended on Ahmad’s family, including his wife and two young girls, and thrown stones at them and their neighbors. When the police eventually arrived, they responded with their typical feigned incompetence – taking evidentiary photos while claiming there was not enough evidence to work with. Neither the physical injuries nor the property damage qualified, and the Palestinians’ complaints were dismissed. With masked settlers and police that are more than willing to allow them to run away, again, the occupation forces were able to work in tandem (settler violence, and police feigned and weaponized incompetence) to threaten the Palestinians with displacement from lands they have stewarded for generations.
Compounded upon the escalation of attacks by settlers (many of whom are armed and deploy weapons upon the Palestinians they are trying to intimidate and harass), are attacks by “settler soldier” militias, since October 7th and the escalation of Israeli genocide of Palestinians. These reservists, who have been drafted since the beginning of the genocide, Settlers don soldier uniforms and enjoy even more impunity than previously; it has become increasingly more difficult to distinguish between settler and soldier. Both enact the violence of the occupation in their own way, but the merging of the occupation forces since October 7th has brought on another level for these Palestinian families.
As I was beginning to write this report on the afternoon March 19th, a group of masked and armed settlers brought their herd of cows to graze on Nasser’s land in Susiya; the irony of abandoning writing this report to stand in solidarity with Susiya residents to confront, for the umpteenth time, yet another instance of harassment and violence by the settler, cannot be lost on anyone.
Another major attack on Susiya where residents were beaten and 3 Palestinian men were arrested and held overnight in a military base, also made headlines around the world: Hamdan Ballal, co-director of Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land that shows exactly this type of violence in Masafer Yatta, was attacked by violent settlers on the evening of March 25th. Around the time of Iftar, when families were sitting down to break the daylong Ramadan fast, settlers arrived to Palestinian homes in Susiya and were throwing rocks, in the presence of Israeli police and army who looked on, doing nothing to stop them. Shem Tov, accompanied by soldiers, attacked Ballal, kicking him in the head and beating him violently. Shem Tov and 15 other settlers stormed other homes, smashing cars, and assaulting other residents. The accompanying soldiers arrested Hamdan and 2 other Palestinians, despite their urgent need for medical attention, and kept them in a military base overnight. Their whereabouts were unknown for several hours and they were not permitted to talk to their lawyer or seek legal counsel until the next morning. Eventually they were released and the charges against them were dropped for lack of any evidence against them. And meanwhile, Shem Tov and the other settlers who engaged in these brutal assaults, walk away with no repercussions or accountability.
Despite mountains of detailed documentation against the violent act of these settlers, despite police and military presence during attacks, despite courts’ rulings about the rightful ownership of these lands by the Palestinians, despite military orders banning settlers from these areas, despite international media attention in the case of a Hollywood-recognized Palestinian man who was attacked, despite widespread condemnation against the illegal settlements and the violence in the occupation’s concerted efforts aimed at their expansion: despite it all, the violence of the Zionist occupation continues, and escalates, aiming to displace and destroy Palestinian life. And Palestinians remain steadfast, staying on these lands they have stewarded for generations, continuing to tend to the groves of olive, pomegranate and almond trees, to their flocks of sheep and goats and their young, the bushes of za’atar growing across the hills, their caves and cisterns large and small: all these are subject to the genocidal violence and destruction by the occupation, and are, therefore, bound to Palestinian resistance against the occupation through stewardship of these lands and ecologies.
We thank the activists in Masafer Yatta for putting together some of the background included in this piece.
On March 11, 2025, at least six Israeli settlers violently attacked two Palestinian shepherds in Khirbet Hammamat al-Maleh al-Meetah in the northern Jordan Valley.
The brothers, Ghanem Eid Zawahra and Muhammad Eid Zawahra, were shepherding on Palestinian land when a black settler vehicle approached them. Settlers exited the vehicle and beat the shepherds with iron rods.
Two Israeli army vehicles arrived on the scene following the attack, not to provide aid, but to block Palestinian ambulances from reaching the wounded shepherds. Eventually, the ambulances were able to collect them.
The Zawahra brothers were taken to a hospital in Tubas, where they were treated for severe injuries. Both men had lacerations and bruises all over their bodies, especially on their heads. One brother’s hand was broken.
Photos: the Zawahra brothers receive hospital treatment for their injuries
Pattern of Escalating Settler Harassment, Intimidation, and Physical Attacks
Israeli settler violence against Palestinian communities continues to escalate in the West Bank. Under the auspices of the occupation forces, settlers commit crimes against Palestinians every day: they steal and kill livestock, prevent grazing, confiscate lands, and physically attack Palestinian families. Often, settlers commit these crimes while dressed convincingly in military attire; other times, they are escorted and guarded by active military personnel.
All of this is done with the intention of terrorizing Palestinian communities until they feel they can no longer live on their own land. Once Palestinian families are uprooted, Israeli settlers quickly sweep in to seize their lands.
Strategic Advantages of The Jordan Valley
It is not a coincidence that Israeli settlers are rarely held accountable for their crimes against Palestinians. Rather, their continued intimidation of Palestinian communities and theft of Palestinian land are a direct enactment of the Israeli government’s stated intention to annex the West Bank. This apartheid system has an ultimate goal of displacement.
The Jordan Valley, which comprises the easternmost 30% of the West Bank, is of special strategic value to Israel. Due to the water supply of the Jordan River, the Valley is extremely fertile land that provides a rich environment for farming and shepherding. In turn, this means economic opportunities for those able to cultivate the land. Israel was making plans to annex the Jordan Valley as far back as 2019, despite the damage such an annexation would inflict upon the land and people. Settler attacks like this one intend to pressure Palestinian residents to leave their homes in the Jordan to make room for Israel’s colonial mission.
Left: the region of Jordan Valley land that Netanyahu proposed annexing in 2019; Source: BBC 11 September 2019. Right: Israeli settlements and military zones in Jordan Valley, compiled by Heather Elaydi
On the 2nd of March in the Jordan Valley, the Israeli military demolished a supermarket. located on Highway 90. The owners of the supermarket were the Abo-Jarar family. This area consisted of a playground, a small restaurant, bathroom, indoor sitting area and a prayer room. In 2022, Israeli authorities gave a stop-work order for reasons which are still unknown.
The family hired a lawyer and got a notice to appeal this decision until 27 July 2025. Nevertheless, the military came on the 2nd of March 2025 and destroyed the building and surroundings. The family had still 5 months left and were taken by surprise.
The day of demolition On Sunday, March 2nd, the military came without warning and demolished the supermarket. The owners were only able to save less than 10% of the goods, not taking into account the furniture, equipment, and other things from the supermarket that were demolished as seen on the videos.
The supermarket relevance The supermarket and other facilities were essential for the local community, providing goods and services without the need to travel to distant cities. They also served as a source of employment for many people from the area. The supermarket had around 15 employees, some of them employed for over 7 years. The restaurant helped provide income for around 30 families.
How the occupation prevents economic growth in the West Bank The demolition of the Abo-Jarar family’s supermarket is an example of how the occupation impedes economic growth and stability in the West Bank. By enforcing stop-work orders and carrying out demolitions without adequate warning or justification, the occupation disrupts local businesses, displaces workers, and undermines the livelihoods of families dependent on these enterprises.
The occupation’s policies and practices, including restrictions on movement, access to resources, and land use, further exacerbate these challenges. By limiting the ability of Palestinians to build and sustain businesses, the occupation not only undermines economic growth but also deepens the socio-economic disparities between communities in the West Bank and neighbouring areas.
