The herding community were told they had one hour to leave their homes at Wadi a-Seeq
One of the ransacked classrooms in the school at Wadi A-Seeq that was funded by the West Bank Protection Consortium and run by the Palestinian Authority. Photograph: Hannah McCarthyA pile of one family’s shoes, an emptied fridge lying on its side, several smashed solar panels. In Wadi a-Seeq in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the belongings of the Bedouin Palestinian community that called the isolated hamlet home for five decades lie scattered across the ground and beneath collapsing roofs.
After October 7th, when the militant group Hamas launched their unexpected attack on Israel, Bashar says it became increasingly difficult to bring water and food into Wadi a-Seeq due to settler harassment and intimidation. “Suddenly settlers who used to wear civilian outfits were wearing IDF uniforms and driving around in military vehicles,” says Bashar. “Before the war, they would occasionally be armed but after the war started they all were.
Expensive household items such as fridges and solar panels were left behind when the families at Wadi a-Seeq rushed to leave. Photograph: Hannah McCarthy, the soldiers were from the “Desert Frontier unit”, which recruits “‘hilltop youth’, radical, often violent settler youth from illegal outposts in military service, particularly choosing youth from the farming outposts that have become prevalent in the West Bank”.
The West Bank Protection Consortium, a coalition of several EU countries including Ireland and international NGOs that delivers aid to vulnerable communities in Area C of the West Bank, told The Irish Times it was aware of the attack as it was ongoing and that assistance had been requested from the Israeli authorities including the police by the Palestinian Authority, which had been contacted by Mattar when the armed Israeli group arrived at Wadi a-Seeq.
“Based on the events of this situation, and considering the seriousness of the matter, it was decided to open a military police investigation into this incident. In any incident involving conflict between two sides, IDF soldiers are expected to do anything in their power to separate them, with the goal of keeping the area safe and in order.” The Israeli police did not respond to a request for comment.
The Bedouin community at Wadi a-Seeq had long been identified as at risk of displacement, with officials and NGOs regularly visiting the community. In September, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence Micheál Martin met Bashar in Ramallah, after the Israeli authorities denied permission for the Tánaiste to visit the community at Wadi a-Seeq.
“For years settlers have been trying to claim this land from non-Jewish people and since the war started, everything has increased,” says Hirschfeld. “They’re taking advantage of the situation to fulfil their target to cleanse Area C of non-Jewish people.”