The largest forced mass displacement in the West Bank in nearly 8 decades

Far from the home and neighborhood where he was born and raised, the young man, Firas Abu Saadi, spends his 14th consecutive day as a homeless person outside the Tulkarm refugee camp in the northern West Bank, which is facing a continuous Israeli invasion, and the occupation is wreaking havoc and destruction there, and pursuing its residents with displacement and eviction.

Like others, Abu Saadi was displaced to his married sister in the Dhnaba suburb near the camp, along with his family of 9, including his elderly mother and young children. They left their home after the occupation soldiers abused them, and their military bulldozers demolished the homes and leveled the streets.

He carried with him what was light and important of identification papers and other things, in addition to a few of their clothes, as the raid was sudden, fast and violent, and they barely escaped with their lives from the whizzing of the occupation’s bullets and its siege.

Similar to the Nakba of 1948 and the Naksa of 1967, thousands of Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes in refugee camps in the cities of Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas as a result of Operation “Iron Wall” launched by the occupation army, through the largest displacement operations that the West Bank has not witnessed in 5 decades.

This displacement was described as the most dangerous, violent and brutal of the many displacement operations that accompanied the occupation’s previous invasions of the camps in the northern West Bank (Jenin, Tulkarm and Al-Far’a) since the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, in which the occupation practiced “absolute terrorism” against the residents and forced them to leave their homes after storming and demolishing them.

Palestinians were displaced individually and in groups from their homes that were destroyed by the occupation to destinations known to some of them, from the homes of relatives and friends, while others took refuge in shelters such as mosques, clubs and schools.

Some of them fled to the plains and mountains and set up tents there, amidst compound suffering in terms of lack of food and drink, and the loss of necessities and privacy as well, in addition to the fear and terror practiced against them by the occupation soldiers.

Damiri added to Al Jazeera Net, "The displaced people suffered from the lack of their requirements, and what is provided is the most necessary, because that depends on donations and what is provided by governmental and civil institutions, which is scarce compared to the enormity of the need."

The "Iron Wall" operation, which has been ongoing since January 21, according to estimates by the relevant authorities in the targeted camps, has led to the martyrdom of 44 Palestinians, the arrest of dozens, and the displacement of more than 90% of the residents of the Jenin and Tulkarm camps, and dozens of families in the Far'a and Nour Shams camps after hundreds of homes were completely or partially destroyed.

Complete siege

Life in the camps completely overrun by the Israeli occupation, as well as the areas near them, was completely disrupted. Schools and medical centers were closed, and the movement of employees was hindered.

The situation is no better in the Far’a camp in the northern West Bank, which has been witnessing the occupation army’s storming for the eighth consecutive day, amidst a complete siege and the cutting off of all factors of steadfastness, including food, water, electricity and communications, and the complete destruction of the infrastructure, as well as the storming of homes and terrorizing of their residents.

Last Saturday, the camp witnessed the largest forced mass displacement operation after the occupation army forced dozens of families to leave their homes at gunpoint, turning them into military barracks and field investigation centers.

Basil Mansour, one of the camp’s leaders, told Al Jazeera Net that the occupation displaced more than 40 families from their homes after storming them and pressuring their owners, towards a sports field in the camp, and then they were displaced to the city of Tubas and are still there.

The town of Tamoun, near the Far’a camp, also witnessed the first mass displacement among Palestinian villages, after a week-long Israeli raid and siege, where the Israeli army deliberately displaced citizens after occupying their homes and turning them into military barracks.

After many attempts, Mrs. Umm Hani and her 10 children were able to flee from Jenin camp to their relatives in the town of Tamoun, only to find themselves facing a second displacement after the soldiers stormed the town, then a third displacement to one of the eastern villages of Jenin amid great suffering, especially since “those she sought refuge with became displaced themselves.”

Source: Al Jazeera