– by Hamdan Ballal Al-Huraini – 9/9/2024

This article was first published in +972 and we are grateful to share it here with the permission of the author. Hamdan is an activist and community advocate from Masafer Yatta in Area C of the occupied West Bank. Here he discusses the joy of the residents of Zanuta after returning to their village lands after ten months, and their pain after being displaced.

On Aug. 21, dozens of Palestinians were finally able to return to the village of Khirbet Zanuta, in the South Hebron Hills of the occupied West Bank. After years of facing constant threats from Israeli settlers, all of Zanuta’s approximately 300 residents were forced to flee their homes when settlers escalated their daily harassment and violent attacks in the wake of October 7.

Zanuta was one of several Palestinian communities in Area C — the two-thirds of the West Bank controlled entirely by the Israeli army — that were displaced during the first weeks of the war. But in early August, following a legal appeal by the residents, the Israeli High Court ruled that the police had failed to protect Palestinians in Zanuta from settler violence, and ordered the authorities to facilitate their return.

Despite the ruling, however, the threats of violence and dispossession in Zanuta have not disappeared. Just days after the residents’ return, a group of Israeli settlers descended on the village and harassed the community. On Sept. 9, Yinon Levy, a settler sanctioned by the United States as part his involvement in the organization Hashomer Yosh, entered the village and tried to steal a sheep belonging to the residents. The police and army stood by and failed to uphold their obligation — a haunting reminder that, even with a rare legal victory, the situation remains extremely precarious.

I had accompanied the residents of Zanuta as they returned to their village a few weeks ago. The sadness and pain was visible in their eyes as they witnessed the extent of destruction the settlers had left in their absence. Almost every house had been damaged with their walls smashed, and even the school had been torn down and ruined.

Yet on that day, for many of the Palestinians, the sense of loss was almost outweighed by the joy of being able to return to their land.

“When I arrived in Zanuta, I knelt and kissed the dirt,” Muhammad Al-Samamra, a 45-year-old resident, told +972. “I feel like a child who had lost his way from his mother and only found her after a long period of time. I’ve returned to life again after 10 months — and I will not leave. I will sleep on the soil of my village and lean on its rocks, and I will never abandon it again.”

Most of the families from the agricultural village returned with their sheep, and were accompanied by Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists. While some went about grazing their flock in the village’s fields, others went to pick cactus fruits, build fires to make tea, and inspect their destroyed homes. It was wonderful to see Zanuta filled with such life again — to see refugees finally return to their home.

For 57-year-old Faris Samasara, this was a long-awaited moment. “For now, only the men and boys have returned, and we will see in the coming days how we will bring the women and children safely,” he said. “But today, I will sleep here and watch the sky over my home and count the stars. In the morning, after so long, I will finally see the sun rising in my village. It is an indescribable feeling.”

The ‘Silent Village’ Gives Hope

“When I left my home in Zanuta, I went to live in an area close to the city of Al-Dhahiriya,” Muhammad told +972. “Life was very difficult: there was no electricity, no pasture [for my sheep], and I was forced to buy expensive water from the city. I endured a lot, but the hope was to return to my home.”

Faris was similarly displaced to an area near Al-Dhahiriya, but the pain was made worse because he could still see his house from a distance. “I felt something inside me had broken and would never be repaired,” he lamented. “I was looking from afar at Zanuta, to my home and my land, with tears in my eyes. The longing was killing me. I wanted to return by any means.”

The residents of Zanuta and Umm Dharit submitted a petition to the Israeli High Court last November, demanding that they be allowed to return to their homes. A hearing was held in January 2024, with the villagers insisting that the police be responsible for protecting the communities from settler violence.

With the help of attorney Qamar Mashreqi, and after months of painful waiting, the court finally ruled in the residents’ favor. It ordered the police and army to respond quickly if any attack occurred in the village, and to arrive at the scene and conduct investigations as needed.

“I used to go to the court sessions in Jerusalem and hope to hear the judge allowing us to return home,” Faris told +972. But with settlers continuing to encroach in the area, and with little trust in Israeli forces to stand against them, Faris was wary of Zanuta’s fraught victory.

“We know that we face a challenge in order to stay here, but this is our right: we will face this challenge and live in peace in our village, and once again feel safe in our homes.”

Being a Palestinian human rights activist and a resident of the nearby village of Susiya, I felt strongly connected to the residents of Zanuta. All of us here in Masafer Yatta have been facing the constant threat of military and settler violence for decades, including house demolitions.

Since their displacement 10 months ago, I had visited Zanuta several times to document and keep an eye on the area. I began to refer to it as the “silent village” in the absence of its inhabitants, and my visits there often filled me with despair. There are still villages whose residents have yet to return, and others — including my own — which face the threat of imminent expulsion.

But the slow revival of the community of Zanuta has opened the door for other villages to hope once again. It reminds them that they must refuse to give up their rights to their homes, and not to abandon strength and determination to live safely on their land. The return to Zanuta will stay with its residents forever, and as it will with everyone here in Masafer Yatta.

Hamdan Ballal Al-Huraini is an activist and human rights defender from Susiya. He documents the occupation’s abuses against Palestinians in Masafer Yatta, and is a member of the Humans of Masafer Yatta project. He also volunteers as a field researcher with B’Tselem and other human rights organizations.