Mahmoud Tubasi has not lived in his home in the village of Jalud, south of Nablus, since late July, after fleeing following weeks of settler violence.

“It all escalated very quickly,” he told The Times of Israel.

Tubasi built the house some seven years ago on land owned by his family on the outskirts of Jalud. The property sits in Area B, where, under the Oslo Accords, Israel maintains security control while the Palestinian Authority is responsible for civilian affairs.

For nearly seven years, he and his family, including his two children and grandchildren, lived there peacefully, he said. But in April, some four months ago, settlers began targeting the home, first setting fire to it and then laying siege to Tubasi and his family.

On July 22, after his pleas for help went unanswered, the family fled. Watching from afar, Tubasi has since seen settlers moving around his home.

In recent years, settler extremists in the West Bank have stepped up campaigns of harassment and violence aimed at driving Palestinians from their homes, sometimes displacing whole communities.

Unlike Tubasi’s, most of the targeted families and hamlets until recently have been Bedouins living in makeshift structures and often lacking formal claims to the land, even though many had been in the same place for decades.

In the past year, however, settlers have also begun to stage takeovers of the homesteads of Palestinians living in permanent structures in established towns, displacing people from properties that may have been in their families for centuries.

“The settlers said, ‘This is the Holy Land, and it’s ours,’ and, ‘This used to be yours; now it’s ours,’” said Muhammad al-Aqra, whose nearly finished home south of Nablus was taken over by settlers in late June.

While some seizures were aimed at homes still being built or occupied only part of the year, settlers have also snatched fully lived-in primary residences by essentially forcing those living in them to leave.

In Jalud, and now in the neighboring town of Qusra as well, settlers have been documented surrounding a home, cutting off its occupants’ access to the outside world, and waiting for them to flee under duress. Once they leave, the settlers take control of the property and block the family from returning.

Since Sunday, Qusra homeowner Youssef Hassan has been trapped with his wife and their two young daughters, ages 2 and 4, by settlers surrounding their home, in a case that has begun to draw attention to the burgeoning phenomenon.

Hassan told The Times of Israel by phone on Monday that settlers erected a makeshift structure in front of the entrance to his home, giving them a foothold to establish a round-the-clock presence at the property, and had cut the electricity lines. Another Qusra resident living in a neighboring home said the presence of the settler outpost had made it impossible for him, too, to leave his home.

Hassan said Tuesday that he feared the family’s food would soon run out, though an ambulance later managed to reach the site and bring food.

“The situation is very bad,” Hassan said after being trapped inside for over a day. “There is a sense of fear and panic. At night, the settlers come to the house, look inside and shout.”

In video footage, settlers could be seen gathering in the structure near the house and attempting to open a gate to the property.

In one clip, soldiers could be seen interacting with and praying alongside the group of settlers, then leaving without taking any action to remove them.

Early Wednesday, amid heightened public pressure, the Israel Defense Forces began taking action to remove the settler activists from in front of the Qusra homes, setting off clashes. The army also released a statement condemning the phenomenon.

“In recent weeks, several reports have been received of Israeli civilians entering and taking control of Palestinian homes and land in the areas of Qusra and Jalud. This is illegal, reprehensible and unacceptable activity that harms the residents of the areas and disrupts their daily lives,”  it said.

Over the three years from January 2023 through April 2026, some 5,900 people in the West Bank were displaced from their homes due to settler violence, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in early July.

The figure includes mostly Bedouins (and some Palestinian farmers) living in what the UN defines as “communities.” According to the UN, 45 such communities were completely displaced and another 72 were partially displaced.

In some cases, settlers subsequently established illegal outposts on land where the displaced communities had lived.

The recent takeover of a handful of permanent residences also appears aimed at establishing or enlarging outposts, expanding the settler presence in the West Bank to the very cusp of Palestinian towns and villages. These homes are located in Areas A or B, both of which are off limits to any civilian Israeli presence under the Oslo Accords.

Homeowners say they are being stripped of properties that have long belonged to their families, in villages where they have roots going back centuries. Unlike the displaced........

© The Times of Israel