Israeli occupation soldiers and settlers terrorise al Mughayyir resident daily

Maher Rizq Abdullah Naasan lives in the village of al Mughayyir, north east of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank. His home is in the south of the village, only 100 metres from his sizable plot of land.

Two kilometres away in the al Khaleel valley is a newly established illegal settler grazing outpost and, unfortunately for Naasan, 60, the settlers have now constructed a dirt track.

He said:

This dirt track runs from the outpost to our area, almost to the edge of my house. Every day, the settlers are with their sheep, damaging the olive trees growing on our land, many of which are more than 100 years old.

The army then turns up to protect the settlers and expels us from our land. They prevent us from taking care of our land and when they see us with our olive trees, they fly a drone overhead.

Naasan had recently found himself being filmed by a drone. Then, five minutes later, a Hummer vehicle belonging to Israeli occupation soldiers arrived on the scene. They dropped gas bombs on the homes close to Nassan’s. Settlers then appeared and began grazing their livestock on his land.

Several days later on 2 April, at 1pm, the Israeli occupation vehicle again arrived in the area, this time with five soldiers inside and went straight to Naasan’s house.

He said:

I didn’t leave the house because if I did, they would have assaulted me. These aren’t regular soldiers but a militia dedicated to protecting settlers. My car was parked in front of my home and I have video footage documenting what they did to it.

They searched the car first, then opened the bonnet and put a substance in the oil reservoir to destroy the engine. They cut all the wires and cables inside the car, including to the battery, and they damaged the fan. After that they withdrew.

Israeli attacks on Palestinians exceeded 23,800 in 2025

‘The goal is to seize our land and surround our homes’

Naasan, who said there was no reason for this behaviour because his car was legal, added that the drone was hovering above him taking pictures when he made the video of his damaged vehicle.

The reason for all this harassment is to remove us from our land, and for the occupation’s soldiers and settlers to let us know that they can do whatever they want.

The goal, in general, is slow evacuation — to seize our land and surround our homes. The army is protecting these settlers while their livestock are eating the olive trees. They have plenty of land already but now come to ours to make us leave it.

Surveillance cameras have now been placed on a tall tower to monitor Naasan and other Palestinians when they go to their land.

“The soldiers then arrive and start firing heavy gas at us,” Naasan added.

A 2022 report by Israeli human rights organisations, Kerem Navit and Peace Now, says that huge areas of land are stolen through the use of grazing outposts. A huge 70% of all Palestinian land seized by settlers has been taken under the guise of grazing activities. These grazing outposts either directly displace farmers and shepherding communities from their land or use violence, harassment and intimidation to force them away.

Nearly one in four people in the West Bank are settlers

The Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission’s new report states that the Israeli occupation now controls more than 42% of the West Bank through settlements, outposts, bypass roads and military zones.

It adds that more than 780,000 illegal Israeli settlers live in more than 540 settlements and outposts across the area.

Almost 60 outposts were established in 2025 alone. Attacks by colonial settlers have become a “functional tool to reshape geography in the West Bank, particularly in Bedouin and agricultural communities,” Mu’ayyad Shaaban, head of CWRC, said. This undermines projects for a viable Palestinian state.

Data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics indicates Israeli occupiers now make up more than 23% of the West Bank population, so nearly one in four.

The organisation also shared that in 2025:

• More than 23,800 attacks were carried out against Palestinians by Israeli occupation authorities and settlers
• Some 5,770 of these attacks involved the killing of civilians, burning of homes, facilities and vehicles, and property theft
• There were 16,664 attacks on individuals and nearly 1,400 attacks on land and natural resources
• More than 35,000 trees, including about 26,990 olive trees were damaged, bulldozed and uprooted during these attacks

Attacks on Palestinians are continuing at unprecedented levels, with nearly 3,800 attacks recorded in January and February of this year alone.

The sole purpose of this land theft is to forcibly displace Palestinians and ethnically cleanse the West Bank.

Featured image via the Canary