The Israeli military invaded the Palestinian village of Ein al-Hilwe in the eastern part of the West Bank known as the Jordan Valley, an area subject to numerous recent attacks by Israeli settlers, and demolished the home of the Nabel Daraghmeh family over the weekend.According to Jordan Valley Solidarity, the recent attacks by Israeli settlers who colonized the area in the last few years escalated three days ago when a group of settlers descended in the middle of the night on the area where the Daraghmeh family had their tent, setting up their own tent only metres away.
Over the last three days, that group of settlers has intimidated, threatened and attacked the family, throwing rocks towards the family’s cattle pen, urinating outside their tent and water-tank, and making as much noise as possible, preventing the family from sleeping. The settlers also put up a fence around the Daraghmeh family’s tent and cattle pen, preventing them from being able to bring their cattle in at night.
Five days ago settlers tied a rope around the neck of a young horse belonging to villagers and attached the rope to the back of their truck, lynching the horse in front of a group of children. Two weeks previously a woman from the village was also attacked while attempting to take water from the well.
The Daraghmeh family legally rents the land from the Lutheran Church, and the family has lived there for fifteen years. However, the Israeli army recently ordered the family to dismantle and remove their home from the land. When the family refused, the Israeli military invaded the family’s land and destroyed the tent in which the family lives, and the makeshift barns for their animals.
Ein al-Hilwe is located just below the illegal settlement of Maskiot which houses 28 familes. In the past 2 years the villagers of Ein al-Hilwe have suffered from ongoing attacks from the settlers.
