West Bank mayhem: Blocked entrances, night raids, settler violence

The Israeli military has left behind a trail of destruction in the occupied West Bank cities of Jenin and Tulkarem after 10-days of brutal military crackdown, killing 30 Palestinian civilians and damaging several homes and public buildings.

Now that the Israeli soldiers have called off the crackdown, the impact of their aggression is still palpable far and wide.

Other occupied West Bank villages, in the city of Ramallah, Hebron and Bethlehem, have also witnessed nightly raids that have been the patterns of Israeli intimidation tactics against indigenous Palestinians.

Salam Zahran, a resident from Deir Abu Mashal village in the northwest of Ramallah, told TRT World that while the brutal raids were carried out, the military also embedded fresh recruits to train them with their tactics.

"The military officers with the new teams enter day and night from more than one entrance to our village and neighbouring villages, tour them and conduct field investigation to arrest young," Zahran said.

Firing sound bombs and tear gas at passersby and shop owners, and hitting cars on the streets with their military gear became a common sight during the raids, she added.

Another pressure tactic used against villagers was blocking the entrances to villages so that the movement is restricted.

“All these things raise anxiety and fear among people,” she said, as the settler-soldier attacks have intensified as well.

A month ago, her 14-year-old son, Ghassan, was killed by Israeli soldiers while he was playing at the entrance of the village near the Israeli bypass road 465.

His killing was followed by the settlers throwing stones at the villagers trying to reach him and Israeli soldiers continuing firing live ammunition.

Israeli bypass road 465

Bypass roads serve the settlements as they aim to enable the travel between settlements by bypassing Palestinian villages.

Constructed on the north of Ofra settlement by confiscating the lands of the village, road 465 is one of them, where it is positioned between Deir Abu Mashal and Aboud villages.

Connecting Halmish and Atara settlements with the Nil'in, Mahsoum and Rantis line on the inside, this main road between two villages is a shared line for Palestinians and illegal Jewish settlers, Zahran explains.

“Our village is on the main road through which the Palestinians and settlers pass,” Zahran adds, as it led to the village being exposed to the repeated violence by the occupation army and the settlers.

Below the main street, there is an area called Al–Qatou’, where Bedouins and shepherds graze their animals.

Standing on the hill, Israeli soldiers and settlers harass Palestinian shepherds and children playing there, preventing them from moving in the area, and sometimes shooting them as happened with Zahran’s middle children, Ghassan, playing in this agricultural land.

Closed entrances to villages

Since October 7 last year, the Israeli army has been entering the village twice a week. Before that it was once a week or every two weeks, to arrest people and remove the Palestinian flags.

It is not just the raids disrupting people’s lives, as the main entrance to the village was closed since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“People began to search for alternatives to the main entrance, and as a result one road was repaired to enable the residents to enter into and exit from the village to go to work,” she says, despite these roads are very dirty and mountainous for the use of cars.

Most of the residents of the village need to go to Ramallah for work. They normally pass checkpoints of Halamish, Atara and Ein Siniya as well as many others the Israeli army has been placing momentarily.

“Sometimes we remain at these points for hours, sometimes they do not allow us to pass and go to work,” Zahran says, adding “even sometimes they do not allow us to return back to the village after we leave.”

“One leaves the house and does not know if he can return or not,” she adds.

For some nights, she and her children prefer to sleep in Ramallah, as she works in Ramallah, and her two sons go to school there.

Especially with the start of the West Bank raid by Israel, closures increased.

Two weeks ago, the Israeli army occupied a Palestinian house in the village of Beit Rima, and expelled the residents of the house for more than 10 hours. At the same time they closed the entrances to the village and neighbouring villages. People couldn't move from early morning until late at night, Zahran shares.

On September 2, around 7:20 am, they closed the main road in the village of Deir Abu Mashal connecting several villages and the city of Ramallah, claiming there was a car bomb on the road.

“We were prevented from passing and were held in the street for more than three hours… We couldn't go to work, school and university.”

She shares that she keeps a large bag in the car in case she wouldn't be able to return home.

These delays and disruptions are another way of oppression, she expresses.

Army-backed settlers

Not only Israeli forces restrict their movement, but also illegal settlers’ harassments disturb Palestinians.

Settler terror reached a peak after the war, as they continued their vandalism and destruction in the villages with weapons, under the protection of the Israeli army.

“Since the beginning of the war we have not been able to go to our agricultural lands, especially since the settlers go to our lands under the protection of the army, carrying the weapons with them.”

Before, the youth of the village got used to staying up late on these lands, visiting there constantly, she expresses.

Illegal Zionist settlers uprooted trees there and caused a lot of destruction, continuing their vandalism almost weekly, she adds.

On Sunday, around 8:30pm , she shared that settlers gathered at the Atara checkpoint and Rawabi roundabout, which are the roads leading to their village, and started to throw stones at people with the protection of the army.

This was also the case when her son Ghassan was killed. After soldiers’ shooting, settlers threw stones at Palestinian people attempting to reach the boy who remained on the ground bleeding for 15 to 20 minutes.

Her son’s case lies as just one example of the tragedy inflicted on Palestinians as a result of long-years of Israeli occupation and army backed settler violence, especially exacerbated by 11 months of brutal war on Gaza.

At least 137 Palestinian children have been killed in the occupied West Bank since October7 last year, according to Defense for Children Palestine (DCIP) based in Ramallah.