Sticks in hand and their faces rolled up in keffiyehs, young Palestinians are posted at the entrance to their village in the occupied West Bank, to defend it in the event of an attack by Israeli settlers living nearby.
Every night, these inhabitants of Turmus’ayya watch and patrol, ready to raise the alarm.
“We don’t want to attack anyone, but only to defend our people, our village, our homes, our land and our honour,” said one of them, wishing to keep his name silent for fear of being arrested by Israeli forces.
“These are our weapons, we have nothing else to defend ourselves with,” he explains, a piece of wood in one hand and a flashlight in the other.
On the hills overlooking the valley, some move in quads, others brandish baseball bats or maces.
In this northern sector of the occupied West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, violence is frequent.
Last Sunday, hundreds of Israelis entered Huwara where they set fire to homes and cars, several hours after two settlers were killed in the small Palestinian town. In a nearby village, a Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire.
After these incidents, Israeli Defense Minister Yova Gallant denounced an “intolerable” situation and said that Israel “will not be able to tolerate civilians taking justice into their own hands”.
The police had arrested a handful of suspects of these abuses.
“After what happened in Huwara, we have to be even more vigilant,” said a guard, his face concealed.
These night patrols began last year when tensions rose in the region, amid increasingly frequent raids by the Israeli army in search, according to it, of suspects.
They have risen to prominence in recent months after violence erupted in Turmus’ayya, a village of 4,000 people.
In January, a house and a vehicle were set on fire there. An Israeli security official told AFP that the alleged perpetrators were Jewish extremists.
“The village is surrounded by settlement outposts and every two weeks there is an attack,” said another Turmus’ayya guard.
Some 475,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, illegal under international law. Around 2.9 million Palestinians also reside in this territory.
The people of Turmus’ayya support the initiative. On a cold winter night, Abdul Karim al-Zaghloul, a Palestinian-American visiting family, brought cups of tea to the young guards.
“No one cares what we are going through because of the settlers and the Israeli forces every day,” he laments.
According to residents, a group of settlers recently approached the village but turned back when they saw the patrol.
“We are ready for any attack, God willing,” said a member of the troop.
02/03/2023 16:24:21 – Turmus’ayya (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
