Saturday 27 December — Israeli settlers stormed Hammamat al-Maleh, in the Northern Jordan Valley. They forced their way into Burhan Ali Daraghmeh’s home, beating his 12-year-old daughter and two of his grandchildren. The settlers called for reinforcement, and as more settlers showed up, they started vandalising multiple homes and assaulting the women of the community.
The ambulance and emergency services in Tubas received reports of a child who’d been injured, but Israeli soldiers and the settlers prevented an ambulance from reaching the site to provide medical assistance. Instead of stopping the attackers, the occupation forces arrested four members of the family. Three of them were arrested in the early hours of the morning and one of them —Daragmeh’s son — wasn’t released until the night of Tuesday 30 December after sustained beatings. Additionally, the family had to pay out 4000 shekels for him to be released.
The settlers also stole 6 sheep and 5,500 shekels from Daraghmeh’s farm during the attack, and the family had 5 phones stolen as well. The al-Maleh community, like many Bedouin communities in the northern Jordan Valley, is being relentlessly attacked by Israeli settlers. Earlier during the day, around noon, the same settlers were harassing the residents of Ein al-Hilweh, a community that is down the hill from Hammamat al-Maleh.
Settlers trespass on Palestinian land, break into their homes and violently attack them. They then call the army to arrest the families. This is all to intimidate them and force them to leave their land, in order to seize it and expand their colonial outposts in the area.
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