Yossi Schwartz ISL(RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine) 11.11.2026
In the settlement of Beka’ot, a yellow gate stands locked and desolate. Beyond it is the community of Ras al Ahmar and the villages of ‘Atuf and Tamun. The gate is known as the “Water Gate”, as it used to transport water from the well in ‘Atef to the villages in the northern Jordan Valley.
For the people of Ras al-Ahmar, there was no need to transfer water. The pipes reached from Ateuf to the houses and land. But in March of this year, as part of the construction of a fence aimed according to the Zionist army at thwarting terrorist threats from the northern West Bank to the Jordan Valley. The pipes that supplied water were cut and the villagers do not have a continuous supply of water, and the residents are waiting for activists to deliver jerrycans with water.
The “water gate” is now hermetically closed. Additional yellow gates close all roads leading to the village and prevent vehicular traffic. In the villages in the South Hebron Hills, too, there is a growing water shortage that began weeks ago. The Zionist army has prevented the supply of water and food in a way that creates pressure for the immediate expulsion of the Palestinians.
In both cases, petitions and requests for temporary relief were submitted to the High Court of Justice, but it did not help. The military claims that these are Palestinian incursions into firing zones, to which they are prohibited from entering, but in reality, there are no enforcement measures against settlers who build outposts in those firing zones and move freely in them.
Since the 1970s, Israel has declared that 18 percent of the West Bank land is firing zones, but at a 1979 Ministerial Committee on Settlement hearing, Ariel Sharon said that the firing zone initiative was intended to “preserve a reserve for settlement.” In the previous decade, a senior official in the Central Command said that the training in the firing zones in the West Bank was intended to reduce the number of Palestinians living there.
“Urgent security needs” are also what was behind the construction of the barrier in the heart of the Jordan Valley, according to the military. In a petition filed in January by attorney Tawfiq Jabareen on behalf of the residents of the area, it was claimed that the construction of the barrier would cut off the communities living east of it from the villages on which they rely, and cause widespread loss of livelihood due to the denial of access to thousands of dunams of farmland in the Tammun Valley. Two months later, the water pipes were cut off, and all fears were realized.
In April, the court ruled that a tour should be coordinated with the residents, among other things, for the purpose of repairing the water infrastructure, and to present the opening hours of the gates that would allow access to the land. Since then, the residents have been waiting for the decision to be implemented.
Until about two months ago, the residents held out with improvised pipes and drove on crooked roads. “But in mid-September, they hermetically closed all the roads, and a confiscation operation began.” The villagers removed the tractors themselves from the area in order to prevent a confiscation. We used donkeys to bring food and water, but even the strongest donkey can’t carry enough water for an entire herd.”
In the residents’ testimonies, a settler named Haim, who serves in the Commander-in-Chief, is repeatedly mentioned, and according to them, he abuses them and manipulates the soldiers. Haim fights with us through the water. Sometimes he drives military vehicles, sometimes he drives a regular jeep. He comes at night and cuts and uproots the pipes.” Haim comes to the houses at night wearing a mask, breaks the security cameras. Sometimes he comes with soldiers and then they threaten us, saying that this is land for the Jews and that there is no room for the Arabs. ‘Go to Tubas,’ ‘Go to bury.’ Haim searches the house, breaks things. The children start crying when he arrives.”
It is estimated that at least one third of the families have been forced to leave due to the water shortage. The closed gates open easily when it comes to leaving. Al Ahmar.
In 2022, at the end of a two-decade struggle, the High Court of Justice ruled that on the eve of the declaration, there were no permanent residential areas in the area, despite conflicting information presented by the residents. In doing so, it allowed the expulsion of eight villages located deep in the firing zone, in the so-called “wet” part, where live-fire training is supposed to take place. But the state did not directly implement the expulsion through eviction orders, but focused on the destruction of Palestinian structures.
The army is the state, and it is looting, destroying the indigenous people and carrying out genocide in Gaza.