Palestinian families brace for expulsion as settlers erect outpost near West Bank village

Palestinian families brace for expulsion as settlers erect outpost near West Bank village

Submitted by Tamara Davison on Wed, 11/11/2026 - 13:13 For people in Jiftlik, in the Jordan Valley, the arrival of Israeli settlers brings renewed threats of violence, land seizures and forced displacement Residents of al-Shuneh cluster in West Bank's Jordan Valley keep watch after settlers set up an outpost in the nearby hilltop (Tamara Davison/MEE) Off

Mohammed* sips coffee outside his small concrete home in the al-Shuneh cluster, framed by the sprawling Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank. 

But the energy abruptly shifts when a pickup truck kicks up dust and hurtles down the hillside: it’s Israeli settlers. 

He quickly ushers his guests toward the door, watching anxiously until the car passes into the distance. 

“The attacks are escalating,” the Palestinian man says, his young children cautiously peering out of the doorway of his family home. 

“There's this feeling of insecurity, living in this constant limbo.” 

Around 80 Palestinian families rely on the remote rocky hillside on the eastern slopes of the West Bank, overlooking the Jordan River.

Al-Shuneh is one of the four population clusters in the agricultural village of Jiftlik, north of the city of Jericho.

The village's population consists of farmers and nomads who rely on livestock raising for their livelihoods.

'He told me... I should go to Europe, Canada, or places like that'

- Mohammed, al-Shuneh resident  

Many were born in al-Shuneh to families displaced by Israeli forces decades ago from other parts of Palestine.

But their livelihoods have been upended by a slow and ongoing torment: lingering Israeli demolition orders and, more recently, the subsequent arrival of hostile settlers. 

As Israel headed to the polls on 27 October for parliamentary elections, al-Shuneh was disrupted by the sight of new tents and Israeli flags mounted on the hilltop just two minutes away from Mohammed’s home, adding to an already growing atmosphere of intimidation.

The armed group installed water and electricity cables and released a video featuring drone footage, settler interviews, and clips of a mother with a young baby on social media, encouraging others to join them. 

It’s one of the latest Israeli outposts established in the Jordan Valley, which are illegal under both Israeli domestic law and international law. 

According to the townspeople, the message delivered in the run-up to the outpost’s establishment was clear: “If [Benjamin] Netanyahu wins, leave on your own. If [Gadi] Eisenkot wins, we will make sure you are displaced.” 

While votes were still being counted in Israel on 28 October, masked settlers encircled several homes in the early hours of the morning, threatening the families. 

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“You don't know what the future holds, or where you'll be tomorrow,” Mohammed tells Middle East Eye. “Your hands are shackled.”

The Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission said Israeli settlers attempted to establish 28 new outposts and committed 1,369 attacks in October alone across the West Bank. 

It’s a sign that Israeli settler strategies are escalating rapidly despite political shifts.

At this outpost, settler numbers are thought to have risen to almost 20 in the days after its establishment, and aggressive rhetoric is growing. 

When Mohammed asked one of the settlers walking on his land where else he was supposed to go, he was told anywhere but his homeland. 

“He told me that there’s no future for my children here or me, and that I should go to Europe, Canada, or places like that.”

Fears of forced displacement

The road towards al-Shuneh on the outskirts of Jiftlik meanders through rolling hills, past date forests and settlements emblazoned with Israeli flags. Along the way, the empty shells of destroyed buildings that once housed other thriving Palestinian villages increasingly come into view. 
 
A short while from Mohammed’s home, another family sits outside a small building, watching the settlers walk along the nearby hilltop. 

Children pass on their way home from school: a 2km walk on which students have also encountered threatening settlers. 

Nearby, Osama Dueis sits beside a large stack of chairs in preparation for an upcoming wedding; but even as they prepare to celebrate, Dueis fears his family will be displaced a second time. 

His first home was destroyed by the settlers in a nearby village now largely flattened and desolate, forcing him toward Jiftlik with his family and livestock just last month. 

They’ve barely had time to even make the building, a tight fit for six extended families, feel like home, but Dueis senses the weight of another looming potential displacement. 

“I mean, look at our situation, we’re left living under a plastic sheet; it’s barely a life, but we have no other choice,” he tells MEE. 

“We can’t speak out, we can’t go anywhere, we can’t even head into the mountains, nothing. Everything is so expensive - livestock feed, everything.

“There’s no such thing as privacy; nothing is private, it’s just a daily reality,” he adds about the constant monitoring and drones. 

'We can’t speak out, we can’t go anywhere, we can’t even head into the mountains, nothing'

- Osama Dueis, al-Shuneh resident

That morning, villagers captured images of the young settlers using binoculars to monitor the town, and in more recent days, the settlers attempted to steal local sheep and have thrown rocks at the Palestinians. 

They’ve now decided to keep watch together, working in rotation among the families to monitor any provocations throughout the night. 

Beyond the tense exchanges, there have also been violent altercations and the poisoning of livestock. 

The targeting of Palestinian farmers, they argue, is not only affecting people’s livelihoods but also having repercussions across the West Bank, as reports suggest settler attacks have contributed to rising livestock costs. 

“The settlers in this area…  are exceptionally aggressive, even more so than others,” Dueis said, though no arrests have been made. 

“They even targeted one of my cousins. After beating him, they asked, 'Do you know how many lives are on [my] conscience?' They take pride in this; they revel in it.”

Demolition orders and restrictions

It’s not just the new settlers placing pressure on the Palestinian residents of the Jordan Valley, whose homes are in Area C under the Oslo Accords, under Israeli security and administrative control. 

Even basic improvements to homes or infrastructure have left the community vulnerable to accusations of unauthorised construction, which is heavily restricted by Israel for Palestinians in Area C. 

Recent rains blocked local roads, but residents fear even using their tractors to clear the debris would be penalised. 

And the challenges aren’t contained to Palestinian communities. 

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a British NGO supporting Jiftlik, said that the mobile clinics they run among rural communities with limited access to healthcare have faced considerable delays due to checkpoints and route closures. On some days, the mobile medical clinics can’t deploy at all due to security risks. 

"What we're seeing in communities like al-Shuneh is apartheid in its most blatant form,” Aseel Baidoun, deputy director of communications at MAP, told MEE. 

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“Settlers can get water and electricity connected within days, while Palestinians wait years for the same basic services and live under constant threat of being driven from their land. This has a direct impact on people's health, but it also makes it harder for us to get care for those who need it.”

The harassment in Jiftlik is part of a broader surge in settler attacks that have displaced thousands of Palestinians across the West Bank since October 2023. 

The escalating violence has been met with growing international scrutiny.

Last month, the UK expanded its sanction powers over those enabling illegal Israeli outposts in the West Bank.

Then just one day before the Israeli elections, a United Nations inquiry ruled that Israel had carried out war crimes and crimes against humanity in occupied Palestinian territories, including the systematic targeting of Palestinians across the West Bank. 

Yet international condemnation and political developments have done little to change conditions on the ground.

Eisenkot, a former army chief tasked with forming a government, supports West Bank settlements, although he has criticised unauthorised outposts and what he calls “Jewish terror” against Palestinian communities. Whether the new outpost near Jiftlik can be contained remains unclear.

For Palestinians in al-Shuneh, daily life continues in the shadow of an outpost that looms over their homes and continues to expand. As Israel’s political elite jostle to form a government, little offers residents hope of relief. The settlers’ warning still hangs over the community: no political change will save them.

“Based on what we have observed in other communities, we anticipate that, moving forward, the aggression, restrictions, and acts of violence will only increase,” Dueis says.  

“There are no options; whether you head north or south, it’s all the same; everywhere you turn, there’s nowhere to go.” 

*Name has been changed to protect the identity 

Occupation Jiftlik, occupied Palestine News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0