Jericho: Israeli colonists Tuesday evening stormed the Arab al-Mlaihat community, northwest of the occupied West Bank city of Jericho, according to a local activist. Hasan Mlaihat, supervisor of the al-Baidar Organization in Defense of Bedouin Rights, reported that masked colonists on horseback invaded the community and ransacked several livestock barns.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, earlier in the day, a colonist attempted to deliberately ram his vehicle into a female teacher from the community's primary school on the al-Mu'arrajat (the Snake) Road. The same community has frequently faced attacks from colonists, who have polluted their drinking water and obstructed shepherds from using the nearby al-Mu'arrajat Street, a crucial route for commuting to Ramallah and Jericho.
Mlaihat explained that these raids are part of a broader strategy by the Israeli occupation aimed at detecting and eventually stealing the Bedouins' sheep, with the ultimate goal of displacing the community to facilitate colonial expansion. This ongoing tension highlights the precarious situation faced by the Bedouin communities in the area.
The Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem (ARIJ) notes that the Arab al-Mlaihat originally hail from the Negev region. They were forcibly expelled to various locations in the West Bank due to their nomadic lifestyle. In the mid-eighties, they were relocated from the al-Irqa area to Maghair al-Dair, about 7km away, after Israel declared the area a military closed zone.
There are approximately 1 million Israeli colonists residing in colonies across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, actions deemed in violation of international law.
