Communities Facing Expulsion

Preparations for committing a war crime: Israeli police and Civil Administration arrived this morning at the Palestinian community of Khan al-Ahmar which Israel plans to forcibely transfer

This morning (Sunday, 1 July 2018), Israeli police and Civil Administration personnel arrived at Khan al-Ahmar, the Palestinian community Israel announced it plans to transfer. The troops walked through Khan al-Ahmar, among the residents' homes, in what appeared to be preparations for the planned demolition of the community. Residents reported that a police officer told them they would be forcibly removed and that they would be better off if they left "voluntarily." The police officer declined to name the date of the transfer.

On Thursday, 24 May 2018, three Israeli Supreme Court justices – Noam Sohlberg, Anat Baron and Yael Willner – ruled that the state may demolish the homes of the community of Khan al-Ahmar and transfer the residents from their homes. This ruling removes the last impediment which had thus far served to defer the transfer of the community, a war crime under international law.

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Communities Facing Expulsion

B'Tselem's 360° VR Documentary Raj’in (We Shall Return) Selected to the 83rd Venice International Film Festival

B'Tselem's new 360° VR documentary Raj’in (We Shall Return), which follows Palestinian shepherding communities in the occupied West Bank that are being forcibly displaced by Israel, has been selected for Venice Immersive as part of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, one of the world's most prestigious film festivals. The film was co-produced with NowHere Media. Yuli Novak, Executive Director of B'Tselem: “ ’We Shall Return’ brings audiences face to face with an ongoing catastrophe: Israel is driving Palestinian communities from their land and homes as part of its project to eliminate Palestinian life in the West Bank. The world must recognize this as ethnic cleansing - and act to stop it.”Co-created by B'Tselem photojournalist Faiz Abu Rmeleh and documentary filmmaker Keren Manor, ‘We Shall Return’ is an immersive 360° documentary filmed in Palestinian shepherding communities in the occupied West Bank as they face forced displacement, attacks by settler militias, and Israeli state violence.Combining 360° cinematography with mobile-phone and handheld-camera footage shot by Palestinian residents and protective presence activists, the film places viewers inside the everyday reality of Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the West Bank. The film follows three protagonists whose lives reflect different stages of displacement: Jaber 'Ali Dababseh, who remains on his land despite continued attacks and home demolitions; ‘Alya Mleihat, who has already endured repeated expulsions; and the Hreizat family, who were forced to dismantle their home and leave.Photojournalist Faiz Abu Rmeleh: "During the making of ‘We Shall Return’, we watched entire Palestinian communities disappear before our eyes. Some of the homes we filmed no longer exist. Some of the people who opened their homes to us while living under constant threat are no longer living there.”Documentarian Keren Manor: “This film is an attempt to preserve the memory of lives and places that are being erased, and to bring audiences as close as possible to a reality of ethnic cleansing that is unfolding every day."BackgroundFor years, Israel has worked to forcibly displace Palestinian communities in the West Bank, seeking to eliminate not only their presence from the land but also their history and memory. Since May 2023, B'Tselem has been documenting this reality using 360° cameras, recording communities before, during, and after their displacement. Since October 2023 alone, Israeli authorities and settler militias have forcibly displaced 62 entire Palestinian communities as well as residents of another 15 communities in the West Bank, uprooting at least 4,635 Palestinians, nearly half of them minors. These actions are part of a broader project of ethnic cleansing aimed at dismantling the fabric of Palestinian life. In fall 2025, NowHere Media joined the project as co-producers, collaborating with B'Tselem to shape the film from story development through post-production. Drawing on their expertise in immersive storytelling, they helped bring the reality faced by Palestinian communities in the West Bank to life.The film’s Arabic title, Raj’in (‘We Shall Return’), comes from graffiti sprayed by one of its protagonists, ‘Alya, on her home before she was forced to leave. The phrase also appears in a poem she wrote, reflecting the concept of Sumud - Palestinian steadfastness and the determination to remain on the land despite ongoing displacement since the 1948 Nakba. Co-produced by B'Tselem and NowHere Media, Raj’in (‘We Shall Return’) will premiere in Venice Immersive as part of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival in September 2026.

15 July 2026

Still from video

Settler Violence = State Violence

Ethnic cleansing in the West Bank: An Israeli settler militia attacked Palestinians in Khirbet Susiya, no one was arrested

Last night (Tuesday), 24 February, at around 8:00 P.M about 20 Israeli settlers raided the village of Khirbet Susiya in Masafer Yatta, in the South Hebron Hills, armed with clubs and flammable materials. They attacked homes and cars with stones, and set fire to three tents, a pre-fab, chicken coops and cars at several spots throughout the village.About 300 people live in the village, half of them minors. They are subjected to daily violence by settlers and the military, with the backing of all Israeli state authorities.Footage also shows a group of settlers trying to damage cameras to prevent documentation of the attack. None of the assailants were detained.Yesterday’s attack on Khirbet Susiya is part of Israel’s broader onslaught against Palestinians, who remain defenseless in the face of unchecked violence by militias and the Israeli military. These attacks are some of the actions taken to expel dozens of Palestinian communities from their homes throughout the West Bank in recent years. The daily violence is part of Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank, which continues while the international community stands by. Israel’s ethnic cleansing in the West Bank has so far displaced more than 4,000 Palestinians from their homes, with 51 communities expelled in their entirety and 14 communities in part.Attorney Qamar Mishraqi of Haqel – In Defense of Human Rights, who is representing the residents, added: “Village residents are currently petitioning the court over the lack of law enforcement and the violence directed against them. As part of the proceedings, the state has repeatedly declared and committed to enforcing the law in the village. In practice, the violence has become far more extreme over the past year, including pogroms and severe assaults on residents inside their homes. With not even a single indictment filed against repeat assailants, yesterday’s incident is yet another escalation in the organized campaign to drive the community off its land.”

25 February 2026

תושבים בראס עין אל-עוג'א מעמיסים חלקי מבנים שפורקו על משאית לקראת עזיבה. צילום: אבישי מוהר, בצלם, 8.1.26

Settler Violence = State Violence

Rolling list: Ethnic cleansing of Palestinian communities and lone families in the West Bank (Last updated: 25 January 2026)

Today (Thursday), 8 January, after persistent attempts, organized settler groups operating in coordination with, and backed by, the Israeli military and the police, succeeded in forcibly transferring 26 families numbering 124 people, including 59 minors from their homes in the community of Ras ‘Ein al-‘Auja.​The community of Ras ‘Ein al-‘Auja, located about 10 kilometers north of Jericho, is the largest remaining shepherding community in the West Bank and the last surviving in the southern Jordan Valley, after the area has been “cleansed” of Palestinians. It is still home to about 100 families numbering roughly 600 people. The community has long suffered severe and daily violence carried out by Israeli youths, some of them minors, as well as armed settlers supported by military and police forces. This violence includes repeated incursions into its territory with herds of camels and sheep, physical attacks on residents, destruction and theft of property, and livestock theft. In one incident, in March 2025, approximately 1,500 head of sheep were stolen.On Wednesday, 31 December 2025, another outpost was established some 200 meters from residents’ homes, where, with the approval of the Israeli authorities, herds of sheep and camels were brought for an extended stay. On the morning of Thursday, 8 January 2026, Palestinian families in the houses near which the outpost was established packed their belongings and left their homes of decades. This marks the first wave of departures from the community, whose residents have faced escalating violence since October 2023.Although journalists report on events in the West Bank, diplomats visit and witness them with their own eyes, and local and international human rights organizations document and publicize the rampant violence, world leaders see, know, and yet choose to do nothing to stop the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank.​The international community, which has failed, and continues to fail, to stop the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, is still standing idly by in the face of the Israeli regime’s crimes in the West Bank, granting de facto immunity to the State itself and the individuals responsible for these crimes.​

8 January 2026