Land Research Center

Violation: Stealing 15 sheep and killing two others.

Location: Ras Al – Auja Bedouin, north of Jericho

Date: February, 28^th 2025

Perpetrator:  colonists of a Colonial outpost in Ras Al- Auja, North of Jericho

Affected Party: Farmer Hussain Zayed Tareef Al Rashaydeh

  Details:

Friday afternoon, February, 28^th , 2025 , a new attack occurred in the area of Ras al Auja, where colonizers from the settler outpost located in Ras al Auja area launched an assault.

Around 2:00 pm, a group of armed colonizers raided the outskirts of Arab Al Rashaydeh Bedouin in the area. Where they assaulted and shepherd Hussain Zayed Tareef ( the sole supporter for a family of four members, including two children),While he was in pasture. Another group of colonizers stole 15 sheep and drove them through the mountain ranges towards the colonial outpost located about one kilometer from the site.

 The colonizers fired randomly with the intent to terrorize the residents and prevent them from approaching, which resulted in the death of two sheep.

Photos 1, 2show the sheep that have died

The head of Bedouin community, Soliman Tareef Al Rashaydeh, stated: 

“We are completely suffering from the existence of this outpost, to the point where we had to sell a large portion of our sheep due to the lack of pastures and their complete confiscation. Even the spring water is now out of the reach, as the colonizers are permanently present around it, and they have already confiscated it, our lives have become perilous and our existence here is threatened. The recent assault on the shepherd in board day light and the theft of the sheep under threat of weapons is the clearest evidence of the difficult reality we live in. “

It is worth mentioning that the colonizers established a new colonial outpost in Ras Al Auja area less than a year ago. And become a direct threat for the residents of 35 Bedouin families, populate more than 200 people .The violations include: confiscating pastures, closing roads, preventing movement, firing shots, and looting property, all of which signal the risk of a humanitarian disaster in the area.

About Al-Auja Village[1]:

Al-Auja Village is located 12 km from Jericho City and covers a total area of 106,399 dunams, of which 1,186 dunams are built-up area of the village. The population was 5,224 as of 2017. The occupation has confiscated 4,717 dunams of its land for settlement and military purposes. Military bases and settlements on its land have appropriated 1,600 dunams, and the bypass road No. 90, which is 8,180 meters long, has seized more than 818 dunams. There are 5 Israeli settlements on Al Auja village confiscated land, which have seize 2,299 dunams of Al-Auja's land, explained in the following table:

Targeting Livestock and Rangelands as a Means to Undermine Palestinian Presence:

The Israeli occupation and its settlers continue their old and new policy of targeting rangelands and livestock. They use various methods to combat the Palestinian livestock sector, including:      

*Stealing sheep.

*Spraying rangelands with poisons and chemicals.

*Shooting, running over, and killing shepherds and their livestock.

*Demolishing and threatening pens housing sheep or storage facilities for livestock feed.

Today, the situation has reached a point where livestock are suffering severe thirst due to the occupation preventing shepherds from accessing water sources. The occupation imposes strict restrictions on accessing rangelands, prohibits access to water wells, prevents drilling, confiscates even small water tanks, and damages and contaminates water lines. They also poison water wells and seize springs, aiming to destroy the livestock sector, which is on the brink of complete collapse due to the occupation's and settlers' actions. All of this ultimately contributes to the implementation of a policy of forced displacement of Palestinian Bedouin and rural communities, leaving them empty of Palestinians and turning them into colonial reserves for settlement and grazing outposts.

According to direct field documentation by the Israeli Violations Monitoring Department at the Land Research Center, since the beginning of 2024 up to the date of this report, the occupation and its settlers have attacked the livestock sector with the following major incidents:

*131 sheep pens were demolished, housing 3456 sheep, forcing their owners to move to other locations, with some being deprived of rangelands and water sources.

*31 pens were threatened, housing over 1893 sheep.

*38 Bedouin communities were forcibly displaced, primarily relying on sheep farming due to repeated settler attacks since October 2023 (the start of the aggression on Gaza). The occupation has closed thousands of dunams of rangelands and prevented Palestinian shepherds from accessing them, leading many Bedouins to sell their sheep due to loss of water and grazing resources.

*73 sheep pens were attacked by settlers through "demolition, burning, and destruction." And killed 1890, stealing 221 heads of sheep.

*Settlers killed 200 heads of livestock, stole 2500 heads, and attacked on 55 heads.

*Direct attacks on over 300 Palestinian shepherds.

 مشروع: حماية الحقوق البيئية الفلسطينية في مناطق "ج" SPERAC IV   - FCDO

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of Land Research Center and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the project donor; the Norwegian Refugee Council.

إخلاء المسؤولية: الآراء ووجهات النظر الواردة في هذا التقرير هي آراء ووجهات نظر مركز أبحاث الأراضي ولا تعكس بالضرورة وجهات نظر أو مواقف الجهة المانحة للمشروع؛ المجلس النرويجي. للاجئين