How Israel’s Settlement Surge in the West Bank Is Displacing Palestinians
For two decades, Muhammad Abdulrahman, 58, lived with his wife and his beehives on a remote hillside in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
But in May, Israeli settlers set up camp about 200 yards away and took control of the road leading to Mr. Abdulrahman’s home, blocking him from returning, he said. Israeli soldiers then evicted him and his wife, Suha Abdulrahman, the couple said.
The Israeli military said that Mr. Abdulrahman left voluntarily, but he said that he has still been unable to return home. Last month, a video shared by an Israeli lawmaker on social media showed his house had been turned into a space for religious study by the settlers.
“All my memories are in that home,” Mr. Abdulrahman said by phone last month from his brother’s house in the nearby town of Betunia, where he is now staying. “They are not only stealing our land but also trying to cut the roots that connect us to it.”
ImageMr. Abdulrahman’s home, foreground, and the new settler outpost about 200 yards away in the background.The Abdulrahmans were among the first Palestinians affected by an Israeli government decision in May to redraw the map of the West Bank by turning more Palestinian areas into Jewish settlements.
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