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Photo:
A resident of Ein al-Rashash, this week. Credit: Naama Greenbaum Published by Haaretz
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Activists traveling to the Palestinian community were met by soldiers with an IDF order declaring the village a closed military zone

by Hagar Shezaf for Haaretz
Sep 23, 2023

The Israeli military prevented a tour by left-wing activists of a Palestinian village on Saturday, declaring it a closed military zone for the day. The residents of Ein al-Rashash routinely suffer from settler harassment, and is in an area where four herding communities have fled following intimidation over the past year.

As they approached the village, participants in the tour were presented with the military's order, signed by Binyamin Brigade Commander Liron Bitton. The military has yet to respond to a request for comment.

By declaring an area closed, the military can restrict entry temporarily. Regulations call for such orders to be issued only to protect security or public order, but they are often used in the West Bank to prevent demonstrations and restrict freedom of movement.

The organization that organized the tour, Looking the Occupation in the Eye, petitioned the Supreme Court after receiving the order. Attorneys Riham Nasra and Alon Sapir accused the military of a "systemic practice and recurring pattern" to use military zone orders to block activists from the West Bank. "The petitioners intend to use their status as Israeli citizens with rights, unlike Palestinian residents, to challenge the military dictatorship" in the West Bank, they wrote in the petition.

Ein al-Rashah is named after a nearby spring, which was an important water source for the community until recently. It has recently been taken over by settlers who have built a road connecting it to outposts and diverted its water to fill an artificial pond. The government formalized a nearby outpost earlier this year.

In June, settlers attacked the village, breaking windows, destroying a solar power facility, and wounding an elderly resident. Settlers regularly enter the village to take pictures of residents and try to trespass into their homes. They also disrupt villagers' lives in other ways, from driving tractors at their livestock and restricting where their herds can graze.

According to a UN report released this week, since 2022, over 1,100 Palestinians have been driven out of West Bank herding communities by settler violence. Ein al-Rashash is home to around 85 people, who make their living from herding.

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