Khirbet Zanutah is a small Palestinian community whose members lived for generations by the ruins of an ancient mosque in the South Hebron Hills. They lived in two clusters: a large one south of Route 317, and a small one – called Zanutah North or ‘Enizan – north of the road. Israel never permitted the residents to connect to the power and water grids, and they relied on rainwater cisterns and solar panels. It also issued demolition orders for structures in the community and forbade the residents from building new structures, including a school. Nevertheless, they managed to establish a school in 2019 with funding from the West Bank Protection Consortium. The Civil Administration demolished the school a month later, but it was rebuilt later that year. In 2021, a settler named Yinon Levy set up the Meitarim Farm outpost a few hundred meters from the community. The establishment of the outpost was initiated by the Hebron Hills regional council, with the aim of taking over Palestinian land in the area and expelling communities who live there. Ever since the outpost was established, community members have been subjected to ongoing attacks and harassment by Yinon Levy, Ely Federman and other settlers. After the war broke out on 7 October 2023, the harassment intensified. By the end of that month, the settlers managed to force out all 285 residents: 27 families from Zanutah, numbering 250 people, including 100 minors, and four families from Zanutah North-‘‘Enizan, numbering 35 people, including 20 minors. The settlers from Meitarim also forced three other communities out of the area: the residents of Widady, Maktal Msallam and Radhem. The residents of Zanutah dispersed among local villages, where they have no sources of income, and those staying in villages in Area C are in danger of being displaced again. Some residents were unable to keep the livestock they brought with them and had to sell them. After the expulsion, settlers set to work demolishing the community’s homes, livestock enclosures and even the school, to ensure the residents had nothing to come back to. They also stole belongings left behind, and have been blocking access from the road to the community and grazing their sheep on community land. In November 2023, human rights NGO Haqel filed a High Court petition demanding the state allow the residents of Zanutah and other communities forced out by settler violence to return to their homes. In late July 2024, the state gave the High Court an undertaking to allow the community to return to Zanutah and to protect them from settler violence. As soon as the order was issued, settlers rushed to destroy the structures still standing in the community. On 21 August 2024, about 80 men returned to Zanutah and about 20 to ‘Enizan, with their flocks and a few belongings. They were escorted by Israeli and international activists, who have remained with them around the clock since. From the moment the residents returned, the settlers resumed their harassment, aided by the authorities. They repeatedly fly a drone overhead, enter the community and take photos of structures. On 22 August, when the residents started clearing their ruined homes and school and put up shading to shelter from the scorching sun, the settlers immediately alerted the Civil Administration, which sent officials with a police escort to take down the shading and confiscate it. As of 8 September 2024, the residents are sleeping in classrooms in the school and in their semi-ruined homes. They have no access to water, electricity or toilets, and the livestock is exposed to the elements. In these conditions, they cannot resume any sort of normal life and the women and children have not yet returned. Yinon Levy and the other settlers from Meitarim continue to fly a drone overhead every day. They repeatedly enter the community on ATVs and roam around threatening the residents. After complaints were made about the authorities’ conduct, the Civil Administration sent a letter on 4 September 2024 proposing that the community move about 2.5 km north, to an area declared state land adjacent to Areas A and B in a-Dhahiriyah, where a plan would be drawn up for it. The Civil Administration stated it would not permit any construction in the existing community, and threatened that if the proposal was not accepted within 30 days, “enforcement action will be carried out in the village”, meaning any surviving structures would be demolished. By working to complete the removal of the community in defiance of the High Court, Israel has proven that the state, and not the settlers, is the driving force behind the expulsion. Many residents have been driven out of the community a second time due to settler harassment, the abdication of law enforcement agencies’ responsibility to protect them and unwillingness by the state to let them rebuild and maintain minimal living conditions. There is genuine concern that a full expulsion of the community will be achieved.
