Ras Ein al-Auja, occupied West Bank – In the blistering summer heat, Farhan Ghawanmeh, 33, is struggling to keep his Bedouin community alive.
Deprived of reliable electricity, water and access to the land that its members rely on for their livelihood in the eastern West Bank, the community is on the brink of collapse.
The community once owned about 24,000 head of livestock as part of its herding way of life. Now, it is left with about 3,000.
Pens once containing hundreds of sheep and goats are empty after a series of killings and thefts of livestock and rounds of sell-offs by herders desperate for infusions of cash.
The newest Israeli settler outpost was built in August just 100 metres (110 yards) from the nearest Palestinian family. The outposts in the area now hem in the village’s approximately 900 inhabitants on three sides. Like all Israeli outposts and settlements on occupied Palestinian land, these are illegal under international law.
The family located closest to the new outpost is planning to leave, fearing for the lives of their children.
“The settler outposts are becoming closer, more intense, more violent, and we’re even more surrounded,” said Ghawanmeh, an appointed representative for the community.
The settlers, mimicking the shepherding lifestyle of the indigenous Bedouin communities, come into the village with their livestock daily, according to Ghawanmeh, taking “shifts” from 6am to 9pm.
The settler shepherds are typically teenagers under the age of 18, putting villagers in the position that if they try to interfere in the settlers’ incursions or even talk to them, they face accusations of “attacking” children and possible arrest.
Even after the war in Gaza commenced in October 2023, unleashing a wave of expulsions of Bedouin communities in Area C of the West Bank, humanitarian coordinators viewed Ras Ein al-Auja, located about 10.3km (6.5 miles) northwest of Jericho, as being at lower risk of forcible displacement compared with other herding villages.
The West Bank is divided into Areas A, B and C, corresponding to the degree of Israeli and Palestinian control. Area C, the largest, is under total Israeli military and administrative control. Area A is administered by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Area B by both the PA and Israel.
Made up of 130 families, Ras Ein al-Auja is the biggest Bedouin herding community in Area C, stretching across an area of 20,000 dunums (20sq km or 7.7sq miles).
The community, established before 1967, also had access to the lush Wadi al-Auja spring with infrastructure built by the Palestinian Water Authority.
But with nearly all other Bedouin communities in the area stretching from Jericho up to Taybeh – a distance of about 16km (10 miles) – forcibly displaced, Ras Ein al-Auja is viewed by Palestinians as the settlers’ next prize.