Israeli occupation forces on Wednesday carried out a new wave of demolitions targeting Palestinian Bedouin families in the town of Anata, east of occupied Jerusalem as part of a systematic campaign to uproot Palestinian communities and expand illegal settlements in the area.

According to Hassan Mleihat, general supervisor of the Al-Baydar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights, Israeli bulldozers — accompanied by large numbers of soldiers — stormed the southeastern outskirts of Anata at dawn, demolishing several homes belonging to the Karshan family.

The occupation forces cordoned off the entire area, barring residents from entering or approaching their properties, while soldiers threatened anyone who tried to stop the destruction.

“These demolitions are not isolated incidents — they are part of an ongoing Israeli policy of intimidation, displacement, and collective punishment against Bedouin communities living near occupied Jerusalem,” Mleihat told WAFA news agency.

The Karshan family, like many Bedouin families in the region, has lived on its ancestral lands for generations. Their homes — modest, often built from metal sheets or stone — are frequently denied construction permits by Israeli authorities, leaving them vulnerable to demolition at any time.

Human rights organizations have long condemned Israel’s discriminatory planning policies in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, noting that Palestinians are systematically denied building permits while illegal Israeli settlements continue to expand freely.

The Bedouin communities around Jerusalem, including Anata, Khan al-Ahmar, and Jabal al-Baba, have faced repeated threats of forced eviction and demolition, part of what Palestinian activists describe as an effort to clear the area for settlement expansion and to fragment Palestinian territorial continuity around the city.

“These acts are designed to pressure Palestinian residents to leave their land and make way for settlements that encircle Jerusalem,” said Mleihat. “It’s a slow, deliberate form of ethnic cleansing carried out under the cover of bureaucracy and bulldozers.”

The latest demolitions come amid growing international criticism of Israel’s actions in the occupied territories. Human rights groups, including Amnesty International and B’Tselem, have described such demolitions as violations of international law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits an occupying power from destroying property in occupied lands or forcibly transferring the local population.

Despite repeated appeals, Israel continues to ignore calls from the international community to halt these demolitions and settlement activities, which the United Nations has repeatedly stated undermine the possibility of a future Palestinian state.

For the residents of Anata, the demolitions are both a physical and psychological assault — yet one met with steadfast resilience.

“We will rebuild again,” said a relative of the Karshan family. “They can destroy our homes, but they cannot destroy our determination to remain on our land.”

The demolitions in Anata reflect a wider Israeli campaign of dispossession affecting hundreds of Palestinian families across the occupied West Bank, where demolition orders, land seizures, and settler violence continue to displace communities and reshape the demographic landscape in favor of the occupation. (ILKHA)