Things are getting worse in the West Bank.
By Catholics for Catholics
Palestinians say a new, makeshift fence is the most recent effort by Jewish settlers to expand control in part of the occupied West Bank, where state-backed demolitions, arson and vandalism periodically take place and settler violence, at times deadly, is seldom prosecuted.
The villagers’ plight happening on the outskirts of Umm al-Khair, was portrayed in the 2024 Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” but the exposure has done little to curb the bloodshed or stop land grabs. They say Israel has used the Iran war as cover to stiffen its grip over the territory, as settler attacks are on the rise and the military enforces additional wartime restrictions on movement, citing security.
Khalil Hathaleen, head of the village council and a member of the extended family that makes up much of Umm al-Khair’s population, said settlers were taking advantage of the war to nab land, cut down olive groves and raid nearby villages at night.
“It was a good chance for settlers to do what they want, with no rules,” he said.
Palestinian kids, like in Israel, stayed home prior to last week’s ceasefire, with the menace of falling missile debris prompting schools to close.
Israeli soldiers attacked these Palestinian children outside their school with tear gas. pic.twitter.com/9Yp08vss8N
— AJ+ (@ajplus) April 14, 2026
According to a Newsmax story, Hajar, her brother Rashid and their classmates sat waiting Monday and Tuesday near Israeli flags, the barbed wire and newly downed trees as their parents and village leaders asked they be allowed to pass. The children were met by plumes of tear gas on Monday, and the noise of grenades flung by armed men in an unmarked white truck, including some uniformed soldiers, according to the video.
By contrast, Israel’s military said soldiers employed “riot dispersal means” outside Carmel, the settlement adjacent to Umm al-Khair. It conceded that children were present but said the procedures — which it didn’t detail — were focused on adults in the area, not the children. The Har Hevron Regional Council, the settlements’ local government in the area, did not respond to questions about the fence.
For decades, Bedouins and other villagers have been using the 3-kilometer (1.8-mile) path from the neighborhood of Khirbet Umm al-Khair to the village center.
“We are determined to keep it,” Khalil Hathaleen said.
As Israeli settlements swell in the occupied West Bank, the fence is just another form that Palestinian movement is being restricted, they said. They added that it follows a well-worn pattern in which settlers erect fences or claim farmland that Palestinians say is theirs and then move to enforce this new reality with the backing of Israel’s military.
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