100 residents flee Palestinian hamlet after repeated threats, harassment from nearby settlers

Haaretz reports that some 100 Palestinians have left their homes in the Jordan Valley hamlet of Umm Jamal due to repeated threats and harassment from nearby settlers.

Settlers repeatedly broke into their homes, threw stones at them and drove away their flock, residents of the Bedouin community tell Haaretz, adding that their pleas for the IDF or police to intervene went unanswered.

The lack of trust in Israeli security services is what led to the decision to flee the area, Haaretz says.

“The children are crying and afraid, and so are the women. It is better to leave than to have our house destroyed,” one resident tells Haaretz.

The residents are moving to the nearby Palestinian village of Tayasir, which is under the civil jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority in the hopes that they will be safer there.