IDF said to arrest Palestinian after he reported settler trespassing and harassment

Palestinians from the West Bank town of Duma say one of the residents was arrested yesterday after he called the cops on a group of settlers who had been trespassing with their flock.

Eid Zawahra, a 52-year-old Bedouin Palestinian, was detained by IDF forces after a group of settlers, one of them armed, encroached on lands in the eastern part of the village, his nephew, Abu Sliman, tells The Times of Israel.

The group had brought their flock to graze between the makeshift houses. In footage from the incident, one of the settlers is heard arguing with the man, threatening him: “Do you want a bullet in the head?” One of the settlers allegedly fired into the air.

When IDF troops eventually arrived at the scene, they arrested Eid on suspicion of stone-throwing. He was handcuffed, blindfolded and escorted into the military jeep. However, his nephew denies that the detained man threw stones at the settlers.

Before his arrest, Zawahra told an Israeli left-wing activist present in the town that police still hadn’t arrived, after he had called them over two hours ago. According to his nephew, he was handed over to police forces at the Binyamin station, then transferred to Ofer Prison overnight.

לאחר שחייג למשטרה לדווח על פשיטת מתנחלים על ביתו – מזה כיממה פלסטיני עצור במקום לא ידוע. תגובת המשטרה וצה״ל טרם נמסרה.

עיד (52) ממגורשי קהילת עין רשאש שליד מאחז ׳מלאכי השלום׳ עבר עם משפחתו בתחילת המלחמה לאדמות שמזרחית לדומא עם מפונים נוספים. מאחז שהוקם בסמוך לביתם החדש ממרר מדי… pic.twitter.com/K6Lkio526N

— Matan Golan (@MatanGolanPhoto) December 26, 2025

Police have not yet responded to a request for comment.

Zawahra and the rest of his family work as shepherds. They previously lived in a small Bedouin hamlet, Ein Rashash, just south of Duma, which no longer exists after its residents left en masse, under duress from Malachei HaShalom, a nearby illegal outpost.