Israel Advances Plan to Displace Palestinian Bedouin Communities in West Bank

Abu Nayef al-Jahhalin, 71, lives in the Jabal al-Baba Bedouin community outside al-Aizariya east of Jerusalem and watches for Israeli army incursions. His home has been threatened with demolition multiple times, with notices stating the land is claimed by the Ma'ale Adumim settlement bloc. He and other Bedouin rebuild after demolitions and say they cannot leave the land, even if it means dying there. The badiya of Jerusalem includes semi-arid plains and rolling hills where Bedouin communities have lived for generations. These communities are described as a barrier to the E1 settlement project, which seeks to seize strategic land connecting parts of the West Bank and encompassing areas Israel calls Greater Jerusalem.

"His eyes scan the surrounding terrain as far as he can see, bracing for any incursion by the Israeli army. This is the fourth time the military has threatened to demolish his home, delivering, once again, a notice informing him that his land had been claimed by one of the largest settlement blocs in the West Bank: “Your home is built on the lands of Ma'ale Adumim.”"

"Abu Nayef's cup of tea goes cold before he gets a chance to sip it, his mind occupied by the uncertain fate that stalks him, as it does all the Bedouin around Jerusalem. His fingers roll a new cigarette as he tries to light it, raindrops hitting it once, the wind extinguishing it the next. “Every time they demolish, we rebuild,” Abu Nayef says. “Where would we go? They want to displace us from the land, but it's impossible - we'll die before we leave.”"

"Salem's situation is similar to that of every Palestinian Bedouin living in the Jerusalem wilderness - locally known as the badiya of Jerusalem, a vast expanse of semi-arid plains and rolling hills that Bedouin communities have called home for generations. These communities now stand as the last barrier against the E1 settlement project, a long-halted colonization plan that aims to seize a strategic tract of land at the node separating the northern West Bank from the south, and which also encompasses the area Israel calls “Greater Jerusalem.”"

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