Israeli army detains Palestinian family members after settlers attack village
The Israeli army on Monday detained several members of the same Palestinian family in Masafer Yatta, in the occupied West Bank, after they attempted to remove a group of settlers encroaching on their land.
Armed Israeli settlers brought their livestock to graze on land in Khirbet al-Markaz, a village in the Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron, prompting clashes with the Palestinian landowners.
The settlers opened fire, causing no injuries, before the Israeli army intervened to protect the settlers.
The Palestinians, all members of the Makhamreh family, remained in detention on Tuesday.
Osama Makhamreh told Middle East Eye that armed Israeli settlers had raided Khirbet al-Markaz, a village in the Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron, bringing livestock to graze among olive trees - a pastoral settler policy increasingly used to seize Palestinian land.
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In response, local residents headed to the area in an attempt to drive the settlers away, only to find them armed. The settlers opened fire, though no injuries were reported.
'The settlers started shooting to scare the residents, but when they felt they weren't moving away, they called in the Israeli army, which arrested them'
- Osama Makhamreh, Khirbet al-Markaz, West Bank
Residents said they were shocked when the Israeli army arrived and began attacking and arresting them, without confronting or even speaking to the settlers.
"The settlers started shooting to scare the residents, but when they felt they weren't moving away, they called in the Israeli army, which arrested 14 members of the family, including women and children," he added.
The soldiers detained several children, the oldest of whom was only 12 years old, for several hours before releasing them.
The youngest family member to be still detained is 16-year-old Tahreer Makhamreh.
"The detainees were transferred to the Israeli army's Susya camp and then taken by military bus to an unknown location," said Osama Makhamreh.
Seizing land through grazing
For years, Khirbet al-Markaz has been subjected to regular settler attacks, which have only intensified since the current far-right Israeli government took power in 2022.
Israel’s pastoral settlement policy has been implemented in this area for more than two years. The policy uses settler livestock grazing to seize Palestinian land in the West Bank, often with army protection, making the areas off-limits to Palestinians.
The tactic aims at expanding control without formal annexation, displacing rural Palestinian communities.
The Israeli army routinely harasses villagers in Khirbet al-Markaz, denying their access to their own land and launching periodic attacks, particularly following the establishment of a military camp and the construction of the separation wall on village lands.
“The Israeli court issued a decision to displace residents on the grounds that their village lies within an Israeli military training zone, making them frequent targets of army assaults,” Makhamreh explained.
Key tactics used against the villagers include detentions and physical assaults, harassment of shepherds, allowing settlers to graze livestock on agricultural land, and blocking Palestinians from reaching their farmland.
These practices mirror those in other Masafer Yatta villages, where residents face repeated displacement efforts.
At the core of Israel’s policy in Masafer Yatta is a drive to seize full control of the land and expand illegal settlements in the area. Masafer Yatta lies in a strategic part of the southern West Bank, situated on elevated terrain with access to major roads and expansive open land.
Israel’s broader aim is to reduce the Palestinian presence in the region to make way for settlement expansion as part of a long-term effort to assert control over Area C, which makes up about 60 percent of the West Bank.
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