‘They took our toilet’: How a settlement has squeezed a Palestinian village
An illegal Israeli outpost set up next to Umm al-Khair in the West Bank, immediately separating villagers from their land. Umm al-Khair, occupied West Bank
An illegal Israeli outpost set up next to Umm al-Khair in the West Bank, immediately separating villagers from their land. Umm al-Khair, occupied West Bank – The Palestinian villagers of Masafer Yatta, a collection of hamlets in the southern West Bank, feel Israel’s military and settlers closing in on them on a daily basis. In one of those villages, Umm al-Khair, the presence of a newly established illegal settlement outpost nearby is the latest evidence that they are being replaced in their own land. Salem and Ikhlas al-Hathaleen live with their eight children in a modest home covered with sheet metal. The land around their home had been somewhere the family could use for agriculture and grazing. But the illegal outpost, an extension of the nearby settlement of Carmel established last September, was set up on that land, roughly 20 metres (66 feet) away from their house. Ikhlas explains that her old morning routine used to involve taking the family’s sheep out of their enclosure, providing them with food and water, milking them, and allowing them to graze. The tasks were simple – but that is no longer the case. Now, thanks to the new Israeli outpost, reaching the enclosure – which lies just behind the house – has become difficult, and at times, impossible. According to Ikhlas, the family was initially prevented for four consecutive days from reaching the livestock enclosure and then was only allowed to access it once, while accompanied by Israeli soldiers, in order to provide food and water for the animals. They were then prevented from accessing the enclosure for two days. This pattern of occasional visits interspersed with days of not being allowed to access the animals has continued, and Ikhlas says they have only been able to check on the animals three times in July.
“I look every morning to see whether the sheep are still alive,” Ikhlas says. “I only wish I could reach them and take care of them like I used to.” Struggle for a bathroom It is not just sheep enclosure that is a struggle to get to for the al-Hathaleen family. Even the family’s bathroom, which is a freestanding structure a few metres away from their home, has become difficult to reach. Ikhlas explains that settlers in early July placed obstacles near the bathroom, including barbed wire and children’s playground equipment, all in an effort to make access harder, particularly for children and the elderly. She adds that the situation has become more complicated since the Israeli army declared the area around the bathroom a closed military zone. As a result, the family – including the children, the youngest of whom is a year old – have been forced to use a neighbour’s toilet, despite the risks involved in reaching it. The route requires crossing a road used by settler vehicles, Ikhlas says, adding that her five-year-old daughter Swar was injured after being hit on the road last August. For Ikhlas, it is not just an issue of reaching a toilet or the family’s livestock, but about a family’s ability to live with dignity and have a normal life inside their own home. “We will not leave our land,” she says. “Even if we have to live in a tent or under a tree, we will stay here.” Growing settlements Umm al-Khair has faced an increasing tide of settler attacks since October 2023, when Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began, as well as a simultaneous escalation in Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank. Jewish settlers, seeking to capture more land from Palestinians in the West Bank, have become a particular menace, with little pushback from the Israeli state – and often encouragement, particularly in light of the presence of far-right settler leaders, such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, in the highest ranks of government.
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