West Bank Displacement: 2,000 Evicted After Checkpoint Attack

Two soldiers died in a gun attack at a military checkpoint in Hebron on Friday. In the 48 hours that followed, Israeli forces sealed the city and displaced nearly 2,000 residents from their homes. The city, home to 250,000 people, had previously paid little attention to the approaching elections. It now serves as a central stage for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security campaign ahead of Tuesday’s vote.

Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich visited the site within hours of the attack. Their coalition is narrowly trailing in polls with two days of campaigning left. The prime minister warned of military operations on a scale not seen in the West Bank in nearly 60 years. By Sunday morning, the neighborhood of Farsh al-Hawa, closest to the attack site, was flattened. Bulldozers reduced an industrial area containing car workshops and a ceramics plant to rubble.

While that district was destroyed, forces cleared Ein Deir Baha, a few kilometers away. The army alleged that at least one of the two attackers, both of whom were killed at the scene, lived there. Fahed Ahmaro, the local imam, was woken at midnight by loudspeakers on military vehicles ordering homeowners to leave immediately. Thirty members of his family lived in the house. He moved his frail mother and several grandchildren to his daughter’s home. When he returned to collect belongings, a neighbor called to say the army had blown up the house gates. Ahmaro said, "You don't know what you have until you lose it."

The Hebron municipality stated that 370 families were displaced in Ein Deir Baha. The Israeli army said residents left voluntarily and that civilians were permitted to evacuate temporarily. Ahmaro rejected this account. "Never, never, never. Why should I leave my house?" he said. Abdul Halim al-Tamimi, 77, said the military arrived at 1:30 a.m. and gave his family 10 minutes to leave. An intelligence officer warned that if they refused, they would be displaced as in Gaza. The family was forced out at 3:00 a.m. By Sunday, their villa was draped in Israeli flags and used as an army headquarters.

The army said about 2,000 local people belonged to the Jaba'a clan, which it described as associated with Hamas. Residents countered that the clan numbers at most 150 people and has no known reputation for radicalism. Al-Tamimi, whose family is from a different clan, suggested the operation served election publicity. By Sunday evening, all roads in and out of Hebron were closed to cars behind steel barriers. Only pedestrians moved through the city.

Delivery truck driver Wasam Sadi arrived at a checkpoint with a smashed windshield and glass in his eyes. He said settlers had attacked him at a nearby junction. Hebron Mayor Yousef al-Jabari called the measures collective punishment. He said people had been dragged from their homes and the media kept out of the district. Palestinians in the occupied West Bank cannot vote on Tuesday, but the outcome will affect their lives.