Israeli Military Barrier Cuts Off Water and Access to West Bank Bedouin Community

Residents of Ras al-Ahmar, a rural Bedouin community, have been forced to carry goods at night on donkeys, moving secretly away from the eyes of Israeli soldiers and settlers.

Saeed Ayed watches over his livestock 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. 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.

Since the road closures began, movement for Palestinians has been severely restricted. 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. 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.

“The situation is dire. We are completely besieged, and the livestock cannot survive without water and food for this long,” Ayed said. “We own 15,000 head of livestock, and we fear they will perish because of the siege.”

Ras al-Ahmar is a 300-person village home to around 50 families who have lived off livestock and herding since the 1970s. Ayed said that Israeli settler attacks had intensified since February, accusing settlers of trying to force residents out to seize their land.

The greatest challenge facing residents is restricted access to medical care as a result of the siege, a particular concern for the elderly. Disease is also rampant among livestock, particularly newborn animals. With veterinary teams unable to reach the area and treat the animals, deaths have been reported.

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. Construction expanded early this year, including the digging of trenches and the bulldozing of agricultural land that damaged wells, water networks, and greenhouses. The Israeli military seized nearly 115 hectares, 85 percent of which is privately owned Palestinian land, according to Kerem Navot.

Abdullah Bisharat, head of the village council of Ras al-Ahmar and Atuf, told Al Jazeera that the Israeli blockade has stopped 51 schoolchildren from attending classes for two weeks because vehicles can no longer reach them. Israeli forces also confiscated a tractor belonging to the village council on Sunday.

The targeting of Bedouin and herding communities in the Jordan Valley is part of a mounting pressure campaign on residents to abandon their properties. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Bedouin and herding communities are among the groups most vulnerable to displacement in the West Bank.

As Israeli elections approach, Palestinian analysts and rights advocates argue that these measures are entrenching a new reality that may persist regardless of the next government. Hassan Mleihat, chairman of the al-Baydar Organization for Defense of Bedouin Rights, and Adel Shadid, an expert on Israeli affairs, both noted that these ongoing developments aim to fragment Palestinian territories and establish permanent control over the region.