Nadav Weiman, deputy director of Breaking the Silence, walks through the abandoned Palestinian village of Zanuta in the occupied West Bank on Feb. 19.Nadav Weiman, deputy director of Breaking the Silence, walks through the abandoned Palestinian village of Zanuta in the occupied West Bank on Feb. 19.ZANUTA, West Bank — Nadav Weiman pulls up in an SUV to the small Palestinian sheepherding community of Zanuta, high in the West Bank's South Hebron Hills.
"Since Oct. 7, 16 Palestinian communities of sheepherders have fled," he says."Sixteen! That's a number I never thought I would say."by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since Oct. 7, harming residents and property. It says settlers have killed at least nine Palestinians in the territory and Israeli security forces have killed more than 400 Palestinians in that time.
His announcement came after a Palestinian gunman killed two Israelis at a West Bank checkpoint. Weiman says Israel responds to Palestinian violence by building more settlements, which in turn makes"Each square meter of land we take from Palestinians will never go back to them," he says."It's a zero-sum game."As Weiman and NPR's reporting team leave Zanuta, the drive winds through rocky hillsides covered in olive groves and flowering almond trees.
He says Israel's military occupation facilitates the stealing of Palestinian land in the West Bank through its myriad laws, including some he says were based on laws used by the area's past Ottoman rulers. B'Tselem, a human rights group in Israel, says Israel also restricts Palestinian use of land in the West Bank byas military firing zones, nature reserves and archaeological sites. The rights group says Israel uses the zoning to justify its refusal of Palestinians' building plans for homes linked to water and electricity infrastructure.There are other ways life has gotten more difficult for Palestinians living near Jewish settlements since Oct. 7, says Weiman.
A Palestinian resident there, Abdullah Odeh, 62, looks as if he the weight of the world on his shoulders. He says his dreams are up in flames — literally. He points to a truck from his towing business that was recently torched by settlers, he says, from the Yizhar settlement just above him. "No one can help us," he says."The settlers are supported by the soldiers. They don't come here to protect us. They come here to protect the settlers."Human rights groups say Israeli military law in the West Bank offers Palestinians far fewer freedoms and protections than those enjoyed by Israeli settlers under Israeli civil law.
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