Her husband was killed in West Bank settler violence. Now authorities are trying to bulldoze her family’s village

In the Palestinian village of Umm al-Khair, Hanady Hathaleen is sitting on the porch of her corrugated iron and plywood home in the bright winter sun, playing with her ten-month-old son. 

Hanady, now 24, was born in this West Bank community in the South Hebron hills as was her husband and three children – the baby on her lap has two big brothers aged five and almost three years old. Taped to the wall is a smiling picture of her husband, 31-year-old English teacher Awdah Hathaleen, popular here with children and adults alike, a community activist and leader, and consultant on the Oscar-winning film No Other Land. “He was my beloved, my soul mate,” Hanady says. ‘I never believed he would be gone.”

On 28 July he was shot dead with a single bullet to the head, allegedly by Yinon Levi, while filming a confrontation on his phone between the Israeli settler – who has been sanctioned by the EU due to previous violence – and members of the community who claim they were trying to protect their land, olive trees and fencing from a settler’s bulldozer. Video, shot by Awdah, records the moment he is hit.

When Halady – nearby and watching the dispute – heard the shot that killed her husband of six years, her eyes immediately searched out her children, knowing they would be frightened. When she turned to look back to the spot where her husband had been standing, he had crumpled to the ground. For a while, his blood stained the concrete flooring of the community space where he fell. 

Her middle son was with his father when he was shot. “He makes associations with colours,” says Hanady. Now, she says, the toddler equates red with his father’s blood. Her children’s pain on top of her own makes this harder to bear. “They didn’t just kill Awdah that day,” she says. “They killed all of us.”Hanady’s story is one of many The Ferret heard while reporting from Israel and the West Bank in late November, more of which will be published in the next week. 

Awdah’s killing sparked protests in Tel Aviv and attracted international condemnation. Now, following a final mass demolition order served by the Israel military on 11 homes in the village as well as the community centre, Hanady has been threatened with losing her home too. When we visited the clock was ticking, residents nervously anticipating the bulldozers. Yet as of this week, the community is still waiting for news.

Buildings here have been demolished before, but not at this scale. “It’s hard to hold on to hope,” she told me. The Israeli authorities claim these buildings, which now sit in an area it has designated as a military firing zone, have been built without the correct permits.

Human rights organisations argue such permits are rarely granted to Palestinians here. This village sits in what is known as Area C, making up about 60 per cent of the West Bank territory, which since 1967 has been under the control of the Israeli military.  

As part of a peace process agreed in 1995, this land was to be transferred back to the ownership of the Palestinian authority. The International court of Justice has ruled that this continued occupation is illegal. 

But for settlers, these are the lands of Judea and Samaria, which they say have been promised to the Jewish people in scripture and belong to them by right. These terms are also used administratively by the Israeli government. Israel claims this area harbours “terrorists” who have been responsible for the deaths of its citizens and says some here have links with Hamas, which controls the Gaza strip.

Its armed faction led the 7 October attacks on Israel during which almost 1,200 were killed and 250 taken hostage.

The citizens of Umm al-Khair we speak to, who are farmers or artists as well as activists, say they believe in peace. The village is home to some 35 extended Bedouin families, traditionally nomadic herding people. They fled here from what is now southern Israel, during the mass forcible displacement of Palestinians starting in 1948, known as the Nakba, which means “catastrophe” In Arabic.

The UN human rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which has called on Israel to immediately halt the demolition orders, claims Israeli authorities have “subjected Umm al-Khair residents to persistent discriminatory land regulations” for years. 

In the hills of Masafer Yatta, other similar villages have faced the same treatment, it says, with some having been successfully cleared. And since October 2023, this has escalated, according to Palestinians here, who consider it collective punishment. The Israeli authorities reject these claims. 

For some, the village symbolises the issues facing the occupied West Bank. Rabbi Avi Dabush, director of Israeli organisation Rabbis for Human Rights, who has been visiting the area for  years says: “What we see there is a violation of the most basic human rights – the right to housing, dignity, safety, and a future.” 

A survivor of the 7 October attacks, his family spent eight hours hiding from Hamas militants in Kibbutz Nirim in southern Israel, so he understands the “deep wounds” suffered. Yet he feels it is crucial to stand up against the “injustice” of the demolition orders, which he considers “part of a wider pattern of systematic displacement”. 

“As Jewish people, we cannot accept this,” he says. “The suffering inflicted on Umm al-Khair, and the policy driving it, contradict our core values…Our faith requires us to stand against violence, dispossession, and the theft of land and dignity.”

To its residents, the settler violence and the military demolition orders are two sides of the same coin. Both, says Eid Hathaleen – a cousin of Awdah who also lives in Umm al-Khair – have the same effect of driving people out. 

Three years ago, Eid’s 75-year-old father – prominent activist Suleiman Hathaleen – was killed by an Israeli police tow truck. According to one eye witness “it suddenly veered off the road and drove straight into him”.Yet Awdah’s shooting still shocked Eid.

In its aftermath, the army arrived. Soldiers initially put Yivon Levi, the settler, under house arrest for three days. But after he claimed he acted in self defence, and was under threat from villagers and activists, the army let him go. Israeli human rights organisation B’TSelem says 19 Palestinians, including Eid and other members of the Hathleen family, were detained and questioned.

Eid claims he and others were “cuffed with chains from our hands to our legs and blindfolded” while in Ofer prison and appeared remotely in a military court, where they were told there was “no charge” and let go.

A spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy said a report was received “about terrorists throwing stones at Israeli civilians near the community of Carmel”. They added: “The IDF and police forces were dispatched to the location upon receiving the report.”

Awdah’s body was finally released to his family ten days after his death. Women in the village, including his mother, had gone on hunger strike to demand his return. Strict conditions put on the funeral meant it could not take place in the village.

Yet before he could even be buried, work on a nearby outpost of the Israeli settlement, Carmel, had re-started. Today a cluster of caravan-like structures now perch on a rocky outcrop, separated by less than 100 metres – and a barbed wire fence – from the community centre where he was shot. Israeli flags fly overhead. Umm al-Khair villagers, working with human rights organisation, Peace Now, have raised legal action against the settlement.

On the morning we visit the atmosphere is tense. Eid has called the police yet again, claiming that settlers were staking yet more of the land, which residents say is theirs. “I was told the settlers can do what they like,” he shrugs, powerless. Yet he and other residents say they are determined not to be pushed out. A brightly coloured mural on the wall of the community centre reads in English and Arabic: “This is Palestinian land” and “We will not leave Umm al-Khair.” 

Violence by settlers has intensified across the West Bank since 7 October, including in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority. The UN documented at least 264 attacks against Palestinians in October alone. In the Jordan Valley Bedouin villages have been attacked and burned to the ground. In November, a mosque near the town of Deir Istiy was reportedly set alight by settlers. According to an April human rights report, settlers have taken control of 14 per cent of the West Bank, establishing over 100 outposts.

Yair Dvir of B’Tselem, which had been working closely with Awdah, sees a clear connection between settler violence and “state violence”, which his organisation claims is being used to drive “large-scale ethnic cleansing in the West Bank”. “In these two years, with the help of settlers and the army, Israel has expelled 44 Palestinian communities, and dozens more - such as Umm al-Khair - are at immediate risk of expulsion,” he added. 

The Israeli Government categorically rejects these claims. It insists its continued approval of settlements is fundamental to the security and growth of the State of Israel.  But most international bodies, including the EU, acknowledge that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law and in contravention of the Geneva Connection. 

“What we are experiencing here are war crimes,” claims Issam Aruri, general director of the Palestinian Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC). “It’s time for sanctions to be imposed in reaction to breaches of international laws like this. “Recognising the state has no real meaning if there are no steps taken to safeguard communities.”

The UK Government announced recognition of the Palestinian state in September this year, a position which had been called for by the Scottish Government. External affairs secretary Angus Robertson told The Ferret: “Scotland stands with the people of Palestine” and said it was taking “economic and humanitarian measures” within its devolved powers.

It is calling on the UK Government, which has also recognised the state of Palestine, to take practical measures against Israel. Last month 80 parliamentarians signed an open letter to foreign secretary Yvette Cooper  raising “grave concerns” about escalating settler violence and the threat of demolitions in Umm al-Khair. The Foreign Office did not respond to our request for comment.

A spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy said: “The state of Israel takes legal and essential steps to act against illegal construction taking place in Judea and Samaria.” On this basis, they added the civil administration’s inspection unit “issued demolition orders against several illegal structures in the village of Umm al-Khair in the Judea area”.

“The structures were built without construction permits and in violation of the laws applicable in the area. The residents are given the opportunity to present their claims, in accordance with the laws in force in the region.”

Meanwhile Hanady Hathaleen lives with the daily knowledge that bulldozers may arrive any day to destroy her family home. “We get used to this,” she explains. “We are Palestinian. But we will fight for our rights.” To Hanady, this land is now mixed with Awdah’s blood. “He was killed because he was protecting the land – I never think of leaving.”

The day before our visit she was told that the demolition bulldozer was at the gates of the settlement. “And all I was thinking was: “Oh my god, where will I build my tent?”” she says. “They can destroy our houses. But they cannot destroy our souls. We will rebuild, and we will stay. We will resist.”