Ramallah - Saba:
Hassan Milihat, the General Supervisor of Al-Bidar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights, has urgently called for Palestinian and international action to protect Bedouin communities, support their resilience, and impose sanctions on settlers amid ongoing attempts to erase and displace them.
In a statement to the Sana News Agency, Milihat warned of the "systematic violence" carried out by extremist settler organizations with the backing of the enemy’s army, aiming to empty Bedouin communities and forcibly relocate their residents as a prelude to seizing the land for settlement expansion.
According to the Anti-Wall and Settlement Resistance Authority, the enemy and settlers carried out 1,691 attacks in May alone, including 415 by settlers, primarily concentrated in the governorates of Ramallah, Hebron, and Nablus.
Milihat highlighted the most severe attack, which occurred on May 18 in the Mughayir al-Deir Bedouin community east of Ramallah. Settlers established an outpost near residents' houses after assaulting them with beatings and weapons, forcibly displacing over 150 Palestinians from 21 families.
He noted that the settlers’ continued attacks aim to forcibly displace Palestinians under pressure and fear, without providing clear housing alternatives, leaving them in a state of chronic internal displacement and loss of livelihood.
Milihat emphasized that a silent cleansing of Palestinian presence in Area C is ongoing, facilitating its eventual annexation or integration into the official settlement landscape.
He stressed the need for systematic documentation of violations, comprehensive legal submissions to international courts, the formation of popular protection committees, emergency medical response teams, and ensuring media access to attack sites.
Additionally, he called for international protection for these communities, financial and moral support—such as rebuilding demolished houses, providing water tanks and alternative fodder—and launching local solidarity campaigns.
Milihat urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate forced displacement as a war crime under the Rome Statute.
He also emphasized the importance of imposing sanctions on individuals and settler organizations involved in violence, following the example of some European countries, and sending field investigation and monitoring teams to targeted areas, with periodic reports submitted to the UN Security Council and the United Nations.
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