Settler terrorism pursues displaced people of the Jordan Valley: Forced displacement under threat of deportation to Jordan

The journey of displacement undertaken by Bedouin families from the Ras al-Auja area in the Palestinian Jordan Valley was nothing but a transition from one suffering to another, even harsher. After the residents thought that their refuge in the village of Al-Awja, north of Jericho, would provide them with safety, they found themselves face-to-face with the same settlers who had displaced them from their original homes, initiating new chapters of systematic pursuit and intimidation.

Citizen Suleiman Zayed, one of the displaced from the Al-Auja waterfall community, recounts that settler threats did not stop at physical assault but extended to explicit messages demanding their final departure to Jordan. Zayed confirmed that settlers storm their new homes after destroying the surrounding fences, using drones to violate the privacy of families and instill terror in the hearts of children and women.

Field testimonies indicate that the attacks suffered by residents in their current displacement location are carried out by the same settler groups that attacked them in Al-Auja waterfall. This persistence in pursuit reflects a systematic plan aimed at tightening the noose on the Palestinian presence in the Jordan Valley areas, pushing residents towards successive migrations that end with the complete evacuation of the area for the benefit of settlement expansion.

Suffering is not limited to security threats but extends to the destruction of the economic livelihoods of these families, who primarily depend on livestock farming. The region recorded the loss of approximately 1,500 sheep last year, 400 of which belonged to the Zayed family alone, without these families receiving any compensation to enable them to withstand the impoverishment policies practiced against them.

In light of this bitter reality, the village of Al-Awja and its surrounding areas lack the most basic essential services and infrastructure necessary for human life. Families suffer from the absence of health centers, water networks, and electricity, making life in these areas a daily challenge, especially in medical emergencies that may lead to death due to the distance from the nearest hospital.

Education represents an additional burden on displaced families, as children are forced to travel a distance of up to 12 kilometers round trip to reach their schools. During this arduous journey, students are subjected to repeated attacks by settlers who ambush them and throw stones at them, which has led many children to refuse to go to school for fear for their lives.

Local sources confirm that what is happening in the Jordan Valley is part of a broader policy led by extremist ministers in the occupation government, aimed at changing the demographic reality in the West Bank. Methods of violence vary between direct assault, property destruction, prevention of grazing, and the use of modern technology to monitor and intimidate isolated Bedouin communities.

According to official data issued by the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, last April witnessed a dangerous escalation with 1637 attacks carried out by occupation forces and settlers. The commission clarified that settlers alone were responsible for 540 attacks directly targeting citizens and their property in various contact areas, with a special focus on Bedouin communities.

Since the beginning of the recent aggression in October 2023, forced displacement operations have accelerated to include more than 79 Palestinian Bedouin communities in the West Bank. These attacks have led to the displacement of more than 814 families, comprising over 4700 citizens, who found themselves homeless or without a source of livelihood after the destruction of their communities and the seizure of their grazing lands.

The steadfastness of Palestinians in the Jordan Valley remains dependent on the extent of support and assistance from official and human rights bodies to confront this fierce settlement offensive. Without strengthening the means of survival and providing international protection, these families will remain prey to displacement schemes that do not stop at geographical boundaries but pursue them in every inch they try to settle in.

If we had known that the forced displacement we were subjected to would be so humiliating, we would have died in our places instead of being displaced.