West Bank settler expansion: a year on the frontline

[Music] the Israeli government's ambition for the Palestinian territories comes as no surprise to hez heri this bedwin Farm is in masafat the West Bank on the edge of the neev desert and on the front line of an Israeli land grab for years now the 7th of October attacks turbocharge that process we've been filming with the heres over the course of the last 14 months watched an empowered group of settlers next door move away from Sticks and Stones no p no no two assault rifles the her's cousin shot in the stomach the family and what's left of their Farm now staring down the barrel of the [Applause] gun haz's mother bought this land after the family were evicted during what they call the nakba in 48 he divides his life between farming and making sure they don't get displaced again so in 2006 for example when the Israelis tried to build a separation wall here it was HZ on the Vanguard of the protest now his son Hamudi is the activist fighting to keep this land a fight that's about to get more violent than they could ever have imagined it's the evening of the 30th of November 2022 hamoodi and his brother Sami noticed settlers on the edge of the village the settlers are holding a demonstration on Palestinian territory the Army should intervene to stop it instead they're standing guard the brothers with a rifle trained on them confront the soldiers the expansion of illegal settlements in this area started years ago but this night in 2022 is different Benjamin Netanyahu is about to form a coalition government which includes extreme right-wing settlers and with their men about to take key positions in cabinet the settlers on the ground are emboldened the following day and the Settler's weapon of choice sheep a young settler from a nearby illegal Outpost drives his herd deliberately onto the heres land Hamudi Rings the Israeli police he's grazing his sheep he's a settler and he's like grazing his sheep in my land these are the mechanics of a land grab claim the grazing ground as your own and try provoke a reaction no no no another settler arrives by way of reinforcements as to the Army this is the way how they can confiscate my land so they will just say this is like a settler land is just ging Zep right or not I'm speaking speaking the truth where you from I'm from to here this is my own bed what is this what it's bed you're bed you don't know that Egypt you don't know you Saudi Arabia my grandpar my grandparents from the yeah from so your place is B your place is this the land that my grandparent living in after after you them from there B it's 30 minutes from here by by by car by car okay but they were living down why you them from there HZ hamood's dad the owner of the land arrives the hez and Hamudi know how this will play out but still involve the Israeli authorities a way at least of signaling to the settler that they're not taking this line down this is the closed milit need to go out of the [Music] area remember we're filming this a year before the October attacks back when there was at least a semblance of State enforced fair play here on October the 7th 2023 40 Mi west of here 1,200 people were killed by Hamas hundreds taken hostage everything changed that day for everyone including Haas heren and his family after the 7th of October everything changed really because you know the settlers they start like ruling almost everything around here it's the 12th of October 5 days after the Hamas attack the first time when they came they came with the bulldozer we just like woke up you know and start like screaming you know what are you doing they just like okay go back home and they start just shooting you know at one point a settler in Army fatigues appears to shoot directly at the heris and other unarmed activists they sh us all the family all the until the house here you know really you know I was really confused Haz is pushed back into his house at gunpoint by both settlers and the police the following day the violence becomes even more extreme just after Friday prayers on the 13th a settler comes down from the hill into the village haz's nephew Zacharia Adra is shot point blank in the stomach an incident broadcast around the World he's just been released after spending 3 months in intensive care and has agreed to speak to us the settler who shot him was using expanding bullets at the [Music] time according to his lawyer the only consequences so far for the settler who shot Zacharia he had his gun confiscated we asked the Israeli police about this but they refused to [Music] comment the blurring of lines between the Army and the settlers has been happening for years since October the 7th that's gone into overdrive a few miles from hz's Farm the start of a new illegal Outpost trees planted in the names of Fallen Israeli soldiers memorials that double as a land grab we interview one of the leaders who doesn't want to give his name because he's been fighting in Gaza and another condition we ask about settler violence according to this man it doesn't exist three months on from October the 7th we're back on hz's Farm according to him settlers are now de facto law enforcement here I mean October 7th until now you know we can't even pass this part of the land we can't go out just to come to graze our sheep our goat here and you can see they just put the Israeli flag right on our tree and on our land they've seized about 2 Acres of his farm a military Watchtower has been built the dry stone walls literally closing in on him really it's something uh make me so upset and really uh really I even I worry about if they succeed just like to take over the land you know because they have the power you just to do it before we leave Hamudi ha's son wants to introduce us to someone Huda is a widow she now spends every night sleeping in a cave with her family because she says her 14-year-old son and her animals have been [Music] attacked as the light Fades hamoodi walks with them into the desert and to the cave where they'll sleep like their bedwin ancestors before them [Music] since the October attacks huda's world just like hoodi is shrinking faster and faster the space to make a home to Harbor hope now reduced to a hole in the [Music] ground

Channel: Channel 4 News

Views: 488,329

Keywords: Channel 4 News, israel, israel hamas war, palestine, gaza strip, gaza, west bank, israel offensive, world news, israel news, palestine news, israeli troops, lebanon, netanyahu, channel4news, israel latest, israel update, gaza latest, gaza update, hamas, hamas attack, israel hamas, israeli settlements, israeli occupation, israeli settlers, occupied west bank, west, west bank settlements, west bank explained, west bank attack, settlers in west bank, israeli settlers west bank

Id: yJZOOZCH4qI

Length: 13min 19sec (799 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 26 2024