1/6 Yesterday, activists arrived to document the establishment of an outpost on the lands of the village of Zanuta, whose residents were expelled from it twice by settlers from Havat Meitarim. Settlers quickly descended from the outpost, blocked the activists' vehicles, and then the show began: settler Ilai Federman jumped and lay down on the floor next to the vehicle and began screaming in an incredibly ridiculous manner, falsely claiming that he had been run over.

2/6 It's a shame no one told Ilai that a man injured in a car ramming did not get up and walk a few meters to the side to talk on the phone, then lie down again under the wheels. Ilai called the driver from the nearby settlement with the emergency vehicle, and dozens of other settlers and soldiers, who arrived at the scene and declared it a car ramming attack.

3/6 Dozens of settlers, soldiers and police arrived at the scene and played their role as extras at Ilai's performance. Settlers took advantage of the opportunity to bring their flocks onto private land, and walk around among the activists with their weapons, pushing, touching and threatening the activity in front of the eyes of the occupation forces who assisted the settlers and pushed the activity further and further away.

4/6 Even the activist who was driving the vehicle - and was detained for questioning by the Hebron police - was released a few hours later. This is not the first time Federman has staged such a show. During his incursions into the village of Zanuta last August, he twice staged the same show in a different format: he collides with a Solidarity activist who is standing in her place, and begins to shout that she attacked him.

5/6 It is understandable, from the fact that even the apartheid police released the activist who was driving the car after questioning - that no one really thinks this was a hit-and-run incident. No one bought Ilai's play. But everyone knows that the last thing the Israeli media is interested in is the truth. 6/6 The goal of the entire event is for the media and politicians to make a go of it, to issue dramatic headlines that have no connection to reality, like the settlers issued yesterday, and thus assist in efforts to expel the communities, while delegitimizing human rights activists.

Khirbet Zanuta, a community in the southern West Bank, was displaced on November 1, 2023, due to settler attacks. Over 140 people, including the S. and N. families, fled the area.

Chronology of Events:

End of 2023

October 7, 2023: Settlers began intensifying attacks after this date.

Settlers entered houses, cursed and threatened children. They threw stones at homes, preventing families from sleeping for 10 days. Settlers bulldozed and blocked the main road into Khirbet Zanuta.

Settler Attacks on the Saleh S.’s family

October 31, 2023: Six armed settlers attacked Saleh S.’s brother, Mahmoud. Mahmoud was detained, beaten, and choked by settlers. Mahmoud and Saleh recognized the leader of the settlers, who had been cutting water pipes and harassing the community with drones.

November 1, 2023: The entire extended family fled after settlers threw rocks at them while they were leaving. The family rented trucks for 3,200 shekels (around $860) to move 300 sheep and left behind most of their belongings. They built new rooms near al-Dhahiriya but struggled financially without access to their lands.

Post-displacement: The family paid 60,000 shekels (around $16,000) to build a new sheep shelter, but could not maintain the flock due to lack of access to water and land.

Settler Attacks on the N. Family:

Munir and Sara N., both 38, and their nine children also faced multiple attacks.

Early October: Settlers, accompanied by soldiers, assaulted neighbors and destroyed property. A stun grenade was thrown inside the N. family’s home, terrifying their children. Settlers threatened the family, giving them 24 hours to leave or face being set on fire. The family rented trucks for 2,100 shekels (about $560) to move livestock. Repeated drone attacks by settlers caused sheep to panic, resulting in the death of 10 sheep.

Munir’s family fell into debt and expressed a desire to return home if safety could be guaranteed.

School Destruction:

October 7, 2023: Schools in Khirbet Zanuta shifted to online learning, but families lacked internet devices.

November 20-21, 2023: The local school, built with EU and UK support, was burned in an apparent arson attack and later bulldozed. The kindergarten, subsidized and affordable, was destroyed, leaving children like 4-year-old Nadia without access to early education. Education Losses:

The destroyed school had 27 students from kindergarten to 6th grade. Civil society groups had partnered with the school for psycho-social support and health programs, which were lost after the school’s destruction.

2024 events

On April 17, 2024:

The human rights organization, Haqel: In Defense of Human Right, petitioned the Israeli High Court to instruct the army to protect five Palestinian communities from displacement threats and allow displaced families from Khirbet Zanuta to return, where the Israeli state attorney, in a February 20 response, claimed that no forced displacement had occurred in Khirbet Zanuta.

On March 1 : provocation and fabicated incident

A fabricated Car-Ramming Incident in Zanuta highlights a staged provocation by settlers to delegitimize activists documenting illegal outpost construction.

• Activists arrived to document settlers establishing an outpost on Zanuta’s land, from which residents had been expelled twice before. Settler Ilai Federman staged a fake car-ramming incident, dramatically lying on the ground and falsely claiming he was hit.

• Settlers and Soldiers Escalate Tensions – Despite obvious inconsistencies in Federman’s claims, settlers and soldiers arrived, declaring it an attack. Meanwhile, settlers used the chaos to expand their presence, intimidate activists, and push them off the land.

• Repeated Tactics of Misinformation – Federman has a history of staging similar incidents to falsely accuse activists. The detained driver was released after questioning, proving authorities did not believe the accusations. The real purpose of such staged incidents is to generate misleading headlines that support settler expansion and discredit human rights activists, aiding the broader goal of displacing Palestinian communities.

[Source https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/17/west-bank-israel-responsible-rising-settler-violence]