Parents in al-Mughayyir, a town in the occupied West Bank, had to be persuaded to send their children back to school this year, The Guardian reported. To reassure them, teachers gave tours of the fortified buildings. Tall metal fences now rise above the schoolyard walls. A sturdy metal gate has replaced the old door.
A new wall also shields the classrooms from a hilltop. According to The Guardian, a settler shot dead two people there last academic year, one of them a student. The school sits on the edge of the village, near its entrance. The newspaper reported that settlers stage raids around it while the Israeli military watches.
Al-Mughayyir has about 3,000 people and lies north-east of Ramallah. The Guardian describes it as under siege by Israeli settlers. Armed settlers regularly raid the village, assault residents, attack homes and seize livestock. Israeli soldiers set up checkpoints that stop people entering or leaving for hours at a time.
Mayor Ameen Abu Alia, 54, said the number of settler outposts around the town has grown from one in 2023 to 12 now. He said settlers first displaced small farming communities in the Jordan valley. Now, he said, they are trying to push out entire villages. "What's happening in al-Mughayyir is the beginning of this project," he said. In Ras 'Ein al-'Auja in the south Jordan valley, settlers drove out the last residents in January, the newspaper reported.
Abu Alia said settlers and Israeli soldiers killed two teenagers in early September. They were Omar al-Nassan, 19, and Khalil Abu Alia, 16. He said the pair were trying to stop settlers from taking their sheep. He described a theft of 60 sheep in the village centre, backed by 10 military vehicles, during which people were shot at. The Israeli military said it entered the village to protect an Israeli civilian and police retrieving livestock. It said it fired on "key instigators" after Palestinians threw stones at soldiers.
The village's olive groves remain unpicked. Residents fear the violence seen during harvests in nearby villages. Israeli rights group Yesh Din said settlers have carried out more than 170 attacks since the harvest began at the end of September. Residents also need prior military approval to harvest. The army closes the only entry to the village for several hours a day.
The Guardian noted that settlements are considered illegal under international law. It reported that the Israeli government has done little beyond a few condemnations to curb settler violence. It said extremist ministers in the Netanyahu government have given settlers guns and vehicles.