By Ali Sawafta and James Mackenzie
EIN AL-AUJA, West Bank (Reuters) – Armed Israeli settlers stole hundreds of sheep from a Bedouin community in the Jordan Valley, local residents say, in one of the largest recent incidents in which Bedouins in the area have reported being attacked and harrassed.
Such attacks in the area have increased since the Gaza war began but witnesses said the scale of Friday’s incident near Ein al-Auja, north of the city of Jericho in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, went far beyond anything witnessed previously.
“This was the biggest one there has been,” said Hani Zayed, a resident of the community, who said he lost 70 sheep in the attack. After years of experience in dealing with local law enforcement, the idea of appealing to the police to help elicited nothing more than a shrug.
“The police don’t do anything, they have never helped us in anything. If you tell them the settler is taking your sheep, they’ll ask ‘Are you sure it’s yours?'”.
Local residents said about 1,500 sheep and goats were taken by settlers, who drove the animals from the village under the eyes of police and soldiers or loaded them onto pickup trucks.
An Israeli police statement denied the incident had taken place as described. Israel’s military did not comment, nor did a group representing settlers in the area.
The Jordan Valley, a relatively sparsely populated area close to the Jordan River, is now under increasing pressure from settlers, local residents and human rights groups say.
For many Bedouin herders, the loss of a flock means the loss of any way of earning a livelihood. Like many Palestinians, the semi-nomadic herders in Ein al-Auja believe the larger goal is to force them from the land to allow a full takeover by Israel.
Fuelled by speculation that U.S. President Donald Trump, who has lifted sanctions on violent settlers, will give the green light to a full annexation of the West Bank, Israeli ministers have spoken openly about a complete takeover of the territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and has occupied ever since.
The encampment, which locals say was established around 40 years ago, has no electricity apart from what is produced from mobile solar panels. Water is brought in by tankers, despite a large spring a couple of hundred metres (yards) away which is reserved for settlers’ use.
“The aim of these attacks is to empty the area of its inhabitants,” said Musa Abayat, who was staying with his father-in-law in the encampment. “This is the only source of livelihood.”
ARMED SETTLERS
Bedouin families say Friday’s incident began at around 9.00 p.m. (1900 GMT) when Israeli settlers drove some of their own sheep into the Bedouin encampment and called the police, accusing the Bedouin of theft.
Dozens of armed settlers in pickup trucks arrived with police and soldiers who, they said, stood by or joined in as settlers pushed their way into people’s houses and drove sheep and goats from the pens.
“We were terrified when the settlers attacked,” said Nayfeh Salameh, a mother of five. “The children jumped out of bed when they heard the shouts and the voices of the settlers. It was a horror for them.”
Activists from Israeli rights group Mistaclim (Looking the Occupation in the Eye), who have maintained a permanent monitoring point following previous attacks, filmed sheep and goats being herded away in the night.
“Everything happened very fast,” said Gili Avidor, an Israeli volunteer from the group.
She said masked settlers in about a dozen vehicles followed police cars into the encampment. She saw settlers entering houses and later herding hundreds of sheep out of the pens and taking them away. “They stole them all away,” she said.
Naif Tarif, who said he lost 250 sheep in the attack, said residents tried to file complaints with the police but waited for hours before being told to return the next day, and only one person was allowed to talk to the police about his own loss.
“These sheep are our lives,” he said.
Asked for details of the incident, the Israeli military, which has overall control of the West Bank, referred questions to the police.
Police said a Palestinian had been caught and interrogated and confessed to stealing 50 sheep from a Jewish farm owner, which had been returned. At the same time, 15 sheep belonging to a Palestinian owner, which had joined the flock belonging to the Jewish farm owner, were returned, it said.
Reuters was unable to reach anyone from the outposts near Ein al-Auja and a spokesperson for the Jordan Valley Council, which represents settlements in the area did not respond to a request for comment.
Most countries deem Israeli settlements to be illegal. Israel disputes this and cites historical and biblical ties to the land.
(Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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