Armed Israeli settlers today assaulted and opened fire on Palestinians in the Ein Samia village, east of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, according to local sources. They said that as the villagers headed to their farmland in the village, they were shocked to find out that dozens of armed settlers, under army protection, barged their way into the area. The settlers opened live ammunition and fired barrages of bombs towards the villagers, but there was not any injury. On 21 May 2023 overnight, according to the Israeli human rights organization BTselem, the last residents of the community of ‘Ein Samia, a community next to Ramallah that was home to about 200 residents, were forced to leave their land. Israel has made their lives unbearable, leaving residents with no other choice. For years, residents of the community have suffered from violence carried out by Israeli forces, from settler violence carried out with the full backing of the State, and from extreme restrictions on building homes and infrastructure, as well as demolitions. The community’s school is set to be demolished soon, following a recent court approval. In his article, Israeli journalist Gideon Levy said that most of the villagers’ property had been left in their village, to which they feared to return. Israeli settlers had rushed in to forcibly appropriate its lands, use their fields for grazing, and prevent their return – even clearing away some of their furniture. ‘This displacement, spurred by violent settler abuse, is not an isolated incident. It is the ‘silent transfer’ model in all its ugliness: a systematic scheme that serves the settlers’ vision to ultimately remove all Palestinians from the occupied West Bank,’ he said. ‘From the Bedouin and Palestinian standpoint, Ein Samia is unequivocal proof that the Nakba, the Palestinian national catastrophe that accompanied Israel’s founding in 1948, is still not over. It has continued mostly without interruption since then; the catastrophe has not ended.’ ‘Israel continues using the same methods with the same national goals. The ultimate intention has been revealed as a state for all Jews – and for Jews only, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Ein Samia is the model for what some term the second Palestinian Nakba. Only the international community can prevent this from happening.’

Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA