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.
Palestinians fear the continuation of the Israeli operation in the northern West Bank; Israeli plans are underway.
More than a month since the Israeli military started its “Operation Iron Wall” in the northern West Bank including the Jenin, Tulkarem, Nur Shams Camps (21 January; two days after the Gaza “ceasefire” took effect), Israel has killed at least 60 Palestinians, arrested around 365 displaced over 40,000, and destroyed scores of homes and properties in the occupied West Bank.
Photo: Nur Shams Camp in the past week
On Sunday, Israel deployed tanks in the West Bank for the first time in more than 20 years. Now, Defense Minister Israel Katz has said, the army will remain in some refugee camps “for the next year” to ensure that residents cannot return.
Forced Displacement
Among Palestinians who were forcibly displaced from camps in the northern West Bank, under the threat of weapon fire, many came out and took nothing, and some of them made the wrenching decision to demolish their homes in the camps.
Photo: Displaced people take their belongings away before the demolition
The displaced Palestinians stated that they would return to the camp, and if their homes were lost or demolished, they would rebuild their homes, even if it was necessary to put up a tent and live in that. Palestinians in the camps are aware of Israel’s grand plans to eliminate refugee camps in the West Bank, specifically in the northern bank. Israel claims that these camps are primarily a factory of the Palestinian resistance, but in fact, Israel’s forces have killed dozens of civilians from camps in the northern West Bank. Unarmed Palestinian civilians who did nothing. Their only fault is that they grew up in the camp; they are Palestinians.
Psychological Violence and Show of Force
In a scene that has been absent for more than two decades since the end of the so-called second Palestinian intifada in 2005, Israeli tanks penetrated the city of Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank in the neighborhood of “Jabriyat”, which overlooks the empty refugee camp after the Israeli army blew up residential blocks. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were forced to flee their homes in what is the largest displacement since the 1967 war.
Photo: Demolition of houses in Nur Shams Camp
Israel announced last Sunday that it had expelled tens of thousands of Palestinians from the Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams refugee camps, and Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz said that he had instructed Israeli forces to prepare for a long stay of up to a year in the evacuated camps, adding that “there is no return for those who lived there”.
Photo: A sick and elderly woman who was displaced
Imposing the Status Quo Militarily, Not by Negotiation
The Palestinian Authority says that one of the most dangerous of the goals of the Israeli military operation is the displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, which occurs simultaneously with the bulldozing and construction of roads in large areas of the central bank; this process has already occurred with the Netzarim site, which had been established by various Palestinian geographic and military groups in the central Gaza Strip.
The question remains, whether Israel will succeed in implementing its military plans in the West Bank in general, and in the West Bank camps in particular.
Will the Palestinians survive despite all the challenges imposed by Israel?
Photo: A Palestinian man checks his house while standing amidst the rubble
March 8, 2025, Masafer Yatta – Alex Chabbott (44), a California based US citizen and solidarity activist, was arrested yesterday from Khalet Al-Daba’, in Masafer Yatta, the southern part of the occupied West Bank, and is now under imminent threat of deportation. Masafer Yatta is the setting of Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land”, yet despite this global recognition, Israeli authorities continue their efforts to ethnically cleanse its indigenous population and expel whoever stands in solidarity with them.
Palestinian taken away from Israeli soldier on March 8, Khalet Al-Daba’. Credit local Palestinians.
On the morning of March 8, Israeli settlers arrived with guns and started harassing residents of Khalet Al-Daba’, roaming through the village, invading houses and severely beating Palestinians with clubs. Israeli soldiers and police came to aid the settlers, continuing to abuse the Palestinians. After being attacked, three Palestinians and international activists present were arrested and taken to Kiryat Arba police station.
Alex was questioned on trumped-up suspicions of obstructing a civil servant in a previous incident, which he denies, as well as entering a military firing zone the day of the arrest. Israeli authorities detained him as soon as he arrived in the village, only later explaining it is a closed area. While the others detained together with Alex were released, with one Palestinian requiring medical care at the hospital, the police decided to extend Alex’s arrest. However, due to the lack of any real evidence, Israeli authorities decided not to pursue criminal charges and used the perfectly legal small fruit knife he had in his backpack from earlier in the day as an excuse to single him out for deportation. This is not the first time Israeli authorities use baseless suspicions to arrest and deport solidarity activists.
Over the last few weeks, the village of Khalet Al-Daba’ has been terrorized by occupation forces that rolled in with a convoy of bulldozers and military vehicles, expelled families into the early morning cold and destroyed homes and infrastructure. On February 10, Israeli forces demolished 7 houses, 3 caves and a water cistern. Two weeks later, on February 26, bulldozers returned to Khalet Al-Daba’ to destroy six tents put up as temporary homes to replace the destroyed houses. Some of the families’ homes have been destroyed up to five times in recent years.
In the 1980s, Israeli authorities designated a part of Masafer Yatta as ‘Firing Zone 918’, a close military zone. Since this declaration, residents have been at continuous risk of forced eviction, house demolitions, and forcible transfer. Since October 7, Palestinians have faced escalating settler violence, aided and supported by the Israeli army and police, aiming at accelerating the ethnic cleansing of the area. In the last months, and years, villages have seen weekly demolitions and daily settlers attack towards residents, property and basic infrastructure.
Last July, around 200 settlers launched a coordinated attack in which they destroyed vehicles, burned fruit trees and beat up residents in Khalet Al-Daba’ and Mufagarah. In the past year and half, at least 19 Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank have been forcefully displaced and wiped off the map by Israeli settlers, with the support of the Israeli occupation forces.
Alex was witnessing yet another of these attacks on Khalet Al-Daba’ when Israeli forces arrested him and Palestinian residents. For over two decades, he has been a deeply entrenched activist and community organizer, dedicating himself in struggles to protect the environment and defend land against resource extraction, to show up for indigenous solidarity efforts, to support mutual aid efforts and community resilience, disaster relief, the anti war movement, fights for racial justice, and many more. He has been an active advocate and supporter of Palestine since the early 2000’s when he first learned what was going on. He has worked in land defense and stewardship, and grows a vast garden of food, flowers, and medicinal herbs mostly to give away and share with others. He especially loves to tend to his fruit trees.
“Growing up I learned about the Jewish Holocaust and it was mind boggling that honest people stood by as it happened. Today, Israel is perpetuating a genocide in Gaza, and I don’t want to look back and regret not standing up for what’s right. No one is free when others are oppressed,” Alex wrote.
This all happens under the watch of western countries, as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories is illegal and must be dismantled, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for the current Israeli prime minister and the previous Israeli defence minister for war crimes. It is to be expected that in the context of the criminal enterprise of the colonisation of Palestine, indigenous Palestinians on their land and human rights defenders who support them, are criminalised.
Palestinians everywhere are facing a genocide and while those in Gaza have endured constant bombardment, West Bank camps are being destroyed in the biggest escalation since the second intifada and communities are facing relentless raids. In this climate, notorious Israeli Minister Itamar Ben Gvir created a special task force to get rid of activists in the West Bank. According to Ben Gvir, the task force was created as a response to some states, including the U.S., sanctioning violent settlers, because international activists were reporting settler violence that they witnessed to their governments. This effort aims to isolate Palestinians from international solidarity, and is part of the ongoing barrage of harassment by Israeli settlers and soldiers towards Palestinians and of human rights activists in the area.
Contact info: palreports@gmail.com
Khalet Al-Daba’ before the homes where demolished. Credit ISM
February 10, home demolition in Khalet Al-Daba’. Credit to local Palestinians.
The rubble left after the home demolitions. Credit to @palestinebrigade on IG.
Balata Camp, Nablus | December 12, 2024 | By Diana Khwaelid
The night of December 12 was undoubtedly the saddest night for the family of the young martyr Jihad Abu Salim and the Balata camp.
No one knew that he would rise as a martyr on the night of December 12th, when the Israeli occupying forces stormed the camp and stole his soul, shot him twice, killing him instantly.
The martyr Jihad Yusuf Abu Salim, who is no more than 25 years old, was killed by the Israeli occupation forces during their assault on the Balata refugee camp east of the city of Nablus. The operations and attacks of the Israeli occupation on the cities, villages, and camps of the West Bank have not stopped since October 7. Attacks are especially relentless in the camps, including the Balata camp, which is considered a fertile area for occupation.
Photo: the martyr’s neighbor cries
Jihad left behind three sisters and two brothers, and he was middle rank was among his brothers; he most recently met his family last Wednesday night and ate cheesecakes, as his younger sister Salsabil reported.
The 18-year-old Salsabil Abu Salim is the youngest sister in the family. Salsabil was in a terrible state, still under the shock of losing her brother, and she could hardly speak, even with difficulty. She said: until this moment we could not believe the news of Jihad’s martyrdom and that we had lost him.
She adds: My brother Jihad was like a bond for me in my life, it means my strength. This was her response when I asked her what it means for a sister to lose her brother.
Photo: The relatives of the martyr
At about 10:30 this morning, his body was transferred from Rafidia government hospital with a military reception befitting him as a martyr.
He was taken to his family home for a final farewell viewing by the family, especially the mother and sisters. A state of sadness, despair, helplessness, and oppression was felt by all residents of the camp, especially his family and friends.
Hundreds of Palestinians from the residences of the camp and outside participated in the funeral of the martyr Jihad Abu Salim and his remains were covered with the flag of Palestine and the Palestinian kufya.
Photo: The friends of the martyr
Palestinian participants in the funeral chanted words stating that they would continue to resist the occupation and honor his family with his martyrdom.
According to the Palestinian Health Organization, the number of martyrs in the city of Nablus since the beginning of this year 2024 has reached 49 martyrs total, and 16 martyrs in the Balata camp.
Tubas, Palestine – December 9. Two more people were killed by a drone-launched missile in Tubas, in the northern West Bank. This brings the total number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli military in the West Bank since October 7th, to 810, including 169 children, with more than 6,450 injured. Being one of the bloodiest period in over a decade, as the intensity and scope of the apartheid military occupation has grown rapidly.
Israel army blocking Tubas main road
The incursion began with Israeli Special Forces personnel infiltrating the town in the morning. Shortly after, at least 6 military vehicles blocked Tubas’ main road, occupying it for about 3 and a half hours and preventing the passage of people and vehicles. The military positioned itself with machine guns aimed at houses and stores. They were targeting anyone who tried to approach or pass, firing live ammunition rounds and stun grenades at them. Four people were arrested, blindfolded and held with their hands tied behind their backs before being taken away. One person was released. In the meantime, two drones flew overhead at low altitude to “monitor population movements”. One of the drones killed Khalil Magdi Al-Masri and Udi Radwan Daraghma, who were aged 26 and 32, in the Al-Safah area in the north of the city. The bombs dropped killed them instantly, without warning. The army also seized their bodies, preventing the families from mourning their loved ones.
Blindfolded Palestinians
The Palestine Red Crescent Society, a humanitarian emergency medical team that is a part of the International Red Cross, reports that the military blocked their workers, and were preventing them from accessing the site of the attack and rescuing any wounded. While these violent attacks were happening, several local Palestinian youths placed barricades made of tires and dumpsters on the side streets. This was an attempt to restrict the movement of the military to the road blocked by the Israeli vehicles themselves. This ended one of the (now daily) attacks that the Israeli Army carries out in many West Bank towns and villages. Day and night, the Israeli Army breaks into Palestinian homes to make arrests and searches, or simply to break the peace and safety that communities build together. This is to display to Palestinians that they are living under military occupation.
Palestinians try to restrict the army movement
The low-intensity war Israel is carrying out in the West Bank is claiming victims daily: in the small town of Tubas alone, 66 people have now been killed by the Israeli Occupation Forces since October 7th, 2023. Several dozen others have been arrested.
A few days earlier, the town of Tubas was the target of another violent Israeli raid: on Tuesday, Dec. 3, Tel Aviv’s military raided the Turkish hospital in Tubas, arresting several doctors including the director of the medical centre. The Israeli Army attack came after an Israeli drone struck a car killing two young Palestinian men and injuring a third in the northern town of Aqaba. The ambulance had taken the wounded and the deceased to the Turkish hospital. In an attempt to take the bodies of the young martyrs and arrest the wounded man, the Israeli military held the entire hospital and surrounding streets hostage for hours, smashing several windows inside the building, threatening staff and triggering panic. Numerous times, fire was opened inside the hospital, going so far as to injure one of the civilians gathered in the courtyard of the facility. The doctors were arrested and later released; interviewed by Middle East Eye, they reported receiving insults, beatings and death threats by the Israeli Army, if they did not hand over the bodies of the men they had earlier killed and wounded. After the military left the facility, funerals were held for the two young men killed to prevent a new attempt to steal the bodies. The situation in the West Bank is becoming increasingly tense. The continuing horrific attacks, deaths and arrests create a fear for what lies ahead.
This dire situation is made worse by the latest statements by the Israeli government and Finance Minister Smotrich, who are openly speaking of a plan to annex the West Bank to Israel by 2025. They would begin with the dismantling of the Civil Administration during Donald Trump’s presidency, a key step toward annexation. These announcements of intention to violate international law and annex the West Bank, do not give any hope of an end to the military occupation and apartheid. On the contrary, it seems only to serve to escalate the already intense situation for the Palestinians living in their homes in the West Bank.
