Khirbet al-Tabban, occupied West Bank – The signs of the mass demolition were visible everywhere in Khirbet al-Tabban: destroyed homes, scattered rubble, empty animal pens, and water tanks and essential facilities that were no longer there.
A woman sits beneath a tractor trailer, trying to shelter from the heat of the sun. Beside her are some of the belongings she had managed to save from the demolition.
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On Wednesday, Israeli forces arrived unannounced in this small village in the southern West Bank’s Masafer Yatta region, and demolished all of its 12 homes, as well as most of the community’s other structures, leaving about 70 people homeless.
Nidal Younis, head of the Masafer Yatta Council, describes the demolition as “wiping the village off the face of the earth”. But he’s insistent that the villagers will not leave, despite repeated attempts by Israel to force Palestinians out across Masafer Yatta.
“The decision to remain and stand firm is the people’s own decision,” Younis says. “They see no alternative to this land.”
But in Khirbet al-Tabban, remaining means sleeping in the open.
With water sources and sanitation facilities destroyed, Younis says the residents’ immediate priorities are shelter, drinking water and sanitation facilities.
He warns that tents will not be sufficient against the strong winds and cold that will arrive in the next few months, especially for children, women, older people and the sick.
And he’s fearful that what happened in Khirbet al-Tabban is likely to be repeated in other Masafer Yatta villages, following a 2022 Israeli court decision to allow for the displacement of the residents from the area after Israel designated it a military firing zone decades earlier.
Israel justified Wednesday’s demolition by saying the buildings were unauthorised. It is almost impossible for Palestinians in Area C of the occupied West Bank – which Masafer Yatta lies in – to get authorisation, even outside of military firing zones. Demolitions have become regular occurrences.
“The goal, as we see it, is to displace Palestinians and change the reality of these areas,” Younis says.
‘We will rebuild’
Nasser Mahmoud Obeid, one of the Khirbet al-Tabban villagers, says that Israeli forces ordered the residents to “get out by force” when they arrived on Wednesday morning.
The order wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to Obeid – he remembers a major demolition that took place in 1999, and has had to endure years of attacks from the Israeli army and settlers since then.
Obeid set to work after the Israelis left this week to clear the rubble and prepare temporary places to sleep.
He insists to Al Jazeera that the villagers will ultimately rebuild everything. Obeid says he was born in Khirbet al-Tabban in 1977, and that his father and grandfather lived there before him.
“This is our land, and here we will build and rebuild,” he says. “You can see with your own eyes what we are doing. We have not lost hope, and we will not.”
Sewing machine in the rubble
Suad Mohammed Obeid, 48, stood among the remains of the place where she had lived for more than three decades.
She searched through the rubble for her belongings, stopping at objects that had been part of her daily life, including the sewing machine she used to make clothes for her husband, who works in a metalworking shop, as well as for her children and grandchildren.
Suad has lived in Khirbet al-Tabban for 32 years, moving to the village after she got married. Over the years, her life became closely tied to agriculture, livestock and the production of dairy products, including cheese and yoghurt.
That life has now come crashing down.
“They demolished all of Khirbet al-Tabban and wiped it off the face of the earth,” she says.
“The night after the demolition was very difficult for us, our children, and our grandchildren,” she says. “The children are not used to sleeping outside their rooms, and we are already afraid to sleep outdoors because of settler attacks.”
She says the children remained frightened and awake throughout the night.
“Today we are out in the open. There is nowhere for us to shelter.”
She believes that what happened is part of an attempt by Israel to make life impossible for Palestinians in the West Bank, through demolitions, preventing access to grazing land, and attacks by settlers.
But she insists: “God willing, organisations will help us and provide us with tents, and we will remain steadfast.”
