On Monday, 10 July 2023, the Palestinian Bedouin shepherding community of al-Baq’ah, to the east of Ramallah, was forcibly transferred. In the days leading up to Monday, settlers from an outpost next to al-Baq’ah, one of seven established after the pogrom in Turmusaya on 21 June 2023, attacked the community daily. On Friday, 7 July 2023, a tent home in the community was set on fire while no one was in.
The community of al-Baq’ah was home to 33 people, including 21 minors. The residents, who disassembled their homes and livestock enclosures yesterday, told B’Tselem field researchers that they feared for their lives and there was no one to protect them. Because of this, and having no other choice, they decided to leave the place they called home for decades.
The outpost that settlers established 50 meters away from the community’s homes is a farm with 60 to 70 sheep and two horses. The settlers set up solar panels and connected the outpost to the water infrastructure of the Neve Erez settlement, which was established in 2001, some 100 meters north of al-Baq’ah. They took control of the only road connecting al-Baq’ah to the nearby Alon Route, and have been grazing their sheep in the pasturelands that served the al-Baq’ah community and harassing shepherds from the Mleihat family, who grazed their sheep in the area.
On Friday, 7 July 2023, at around 6:30 A.M., a tent home located 100 meters from the outpost, was set on fire. The family living in the tent had been sleeping in another tent belonging to the extended family out of fear that settlers would harass them at night. The family saw the fire from a distance and called the police, but no officers came.
Israel has created an impossible reality and untenable life for residents, and Israel bears sole responsible for their expulsion. Read more...
