Saeed Ayed* watches over his livestock herd.
asserted
* → watch → herd
The animals are starving and parched due to a two-week-long Israeli siege on the Ras al-Ahmar Bedouin community in the occupied West Bank’s Jordan Valley.
asserted
animals → starve → Valley
Access to the community has been blocked since mid-September, as Israeli forces continue building a barrier through Palestinian land in the area, including a road for military patrols, trenches and embankments.
asserted
forces → block → patrols
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asserted
Jordan → respond → items-
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Since the road closures began, movement for Palestinians has been severely restricted.
asserted
movement → kill → Palestinians
They are forced to move around at night, transporting water, fodder and milk via donkeys under the cover of darkness to avoid detection by Israeli soldiers and settlers.
asserted
They → force → soldiers
Ayed told Al Jazeera that no water had entered the community over the past three days after Israeli forces sealed the access points residents had been using to bring in supplies.
asserted
residents → tell → supplies
We are completely besieged, and the livestock cannot survive without water and food for this long,” Ayed said.
asserted
Ayed → besiege → long
“We own 15,000 head of livestock, and we fear they will perish because of the siege.”
asserted
they → own → siege
Ras al-Ahmar is a 300-person village home to around 50 families who have lived off livestock and herding since the 1970s.
asserted
who → live → 1970s
Ayed said that Israeli settler attacks – part of a wider pogrom against Palestinians across the West Bank – had intensified since February, accusing settlers of trying to force residents out to seize their land.
asserted
attacks → say → land
“We have faced livestock theft, attacks on our dwellings, beatings of residents and vandalism of our homes.
asserted
We → face → homes
This was happening almost daily, yet we refused to leave.
asserted
we → happen → ?
Now, they are completely besieging us to force us out,” he added.
asserted
he → besiege → us
And with veterinary teams unable to reach the area and treat the animals, deaths have been reported.
asserted
deaths → reach → animals
The military barrier – which Israel calls Crimson Thread and says it is needed for security – runs for roughly 20km (12 miles) through the northern Jordan Valley, with a width of up to 50 metres (165 feet).
asserted
it → call → metres
Construction expanded early this year, including the digging of trenches and the bulldozing of agricultural land that damaged wells, water networks and greenhouses.
asserted
that → expand → wells
The Israeli military seized nearly 115 hectares, 85 percent of which is privately owned Palestinian land, according to Kerem Navot, which monitors Israeli land policies in the West Bank.
uncertain
which → seize → Bank
Abdullah Bisharat, head of the village council of Ras al-Ahmar and Atuf, a nearby rural area also facing the military blockade, told Al Jazeera that the Israeli blockade has stopped 51 schoolchildren from attending classes for two weeks because vehicles can no longer reach them.
asserted
vehicles → face → them
Israeli forces confiscated a tractor belonging to the village council on Sunday, detaining its driver as he was delivering animal fodder and water to Ras al-Ahmar, Bisharat said.
asserted
Bisharat → confiscate → Ahmar
“We reached out to human rights organisations, but unfortunately no one was able to break the siege.
asserted
one → reach → siege
Hundreds of people there are suffering, the majority of whom are women and children,” Bisharat added.
asserted
Bisharat → suffer → whom
The targeting of Bedouin and herding communities in the Jordan Valley is part of a mounting pressure campaign on residents to abandon their properties by restricting access to land and pastures.
asserted
targeting → mount → land
The tactics include settler violence, the demolition of structures and the closure of roads and access points.
asserted
tactics → include → roads
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has described Bedouin and herding communities as among the groups most vulnerable to displacement in the West Bank.
asserted
Office → describe → Bank
Dozens of Palestinian communities across the West Bank have been entirely or partially displaced since 2023, when Israel began its genocide in Gaza and ramped up its attacks on the West Bank after the October 7 Hamas attack.
asserted
Israel → displace → attack
OCHA has reported that at least 130 Palestinian communities have experienced full or partial displacement since January 2023, with 48 communities completely displaced, including 12 from January to August.
asserted
communities → report → August
According to OCHA, more than 2,500 Palestinians were displaced in 2026 due to settler attacks and related access restrictions, out of a total of more than 6,400 displaced since 2023.
uncertain
Palestinians → accord → 2023
As the Israeli elections – scheduled for October 27 – approach, Palestinian analysts and rights advocates argue that the measures being implemented on the ground are entrenching a new reality that may persist regardless of the next government.
uncertain
that → schedule → government
Hassan Mleihat, chairman of the al-Baydar Organization for Defense of Bedouin Rights, told Al Jazeera that settlers appear to be rapidly intensifying measures aimed at displacing Bedouin communities in the lead-up to the elections.
asserted
settlers → tell → elections
Mleihat said that Israel’s objective was to expel as many Palestinians as possible and seize control of their land.
asserted
objective → say → land
“The road being constructed near Ras al-Ahmar aims to dominate the area’s land under security pretexts and to isolate Palestinian communities into tiny geographical pockets, effectively confining their presence there,” he said.
asserted
he → construct → presence
A new reality
Observers believe the significance of these Israeli measures against Palestinian communities extends beyond their immediate impact on the population, creating demographic, geographic and security-related changes that may prove irreversible even if the Israeli political landscape shifts after the elections.
uncertain
landscape → believe → elections
Adel Shadid, an expert on Israeli affairs, told Al Jazeera that Israel currently exercises an unprecedented degree of control over Palestinian territory in the West Bank.
asserted
Israel → tell → Bank
Palestinians, he said, live in small, fragmented and scattered enclaves with Israeli control over security, military and economic matters, as well as the minutiae of daily life.
asserted
he → say → life
He said the change was not only limited to geography but also entails normalising the presence of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank so that they are viewed as an integral part of the region’s fabric, rather than a temporary presence or a reality subject to change.
asserted
they → say → change
“This shift is accompanied by the entrenchment of the perception that the West Bank is no longer viewed as a Palestinian area – or even a disputed one – but rather as a territory where Jews have the right to live in safety and security,” he said.
asserted
he → accompany → safety
Shadid argued that this perspective also shapes how Israeli and Palestinian communities in the West Bank are perceived by the Israeli state.
asserted
communities → argue → state
Israeli settlers are presented as a population requiring protection, while Palestinians are increasingly framed primarily as a security threat.
asserted
Palestinians → present → threat
“This logic extends to how the land and the very elements of life are treated.
asserted
land → extend → life
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
