The shepherding village of Ras al Auja has been grazing its flocks in the mountains for decades, having come to live in the area in 1948, as refugees forced to leave Beer Sheva during the Nakba. It lies 6km to the west of Al Auja village, and approximately 11km NNW of Jericho.

This community of 300 families has been erased, destroyed and reduced to nothing through settler harassment and violence orchestrated by the Zionist state. All 300 families have gradually left, because they could no longer survive as settlers harassed them, attacked them, and stole their land, water and sheep.

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When they came to the area 8 decades ago, it was to live near the natural water spring that brought life to the surrounding vegetation – it was an area where people would come to swim, fish and sit amongst the banana groves. Then came the occupation in ’67 – Mekorot (the Israeli water company) dug two wells so deep in 1972 that they cut off the water from the spring, reducing it from a flow to a trickle. However, the community stood firm and survived. As they were gradually surrounded by settlements and occupation checkpoints they still survived. They refused to leave when a single settler family set up a settlement (guarded by the occupation military), stole their land, and left them no option but to move down the mountain.

In 2011 the women of the village worked alongside Jordan Valley Solidarity and teams of international volunteers to build a school for their children, so they wouldn’t have to walk 7km to the nearest school in Al Auja. The occupation demolished the school and over the years they returned and demolished several homes and animal shelters. Then they declared the spring a ‘Nature Reserve’ to prevent the Palestinians in Ras Al Auja from accessing it.

The community stood firm through all of this, but over the last 4 years the attacks by settlers have intensified beyond that which can be endured.

In 2022 settlers set up new outpost at the top of Ras al Auja and started to come to the village, harassing people and stealing from them. They also stole their sheep – settlers stole more than 1500 sheep from 2022 to 2025. At the same time they prevented Palestinian shepherds from grazing their sheep or goats on the land around the village. The settlers destroyed any water pipes that the villagers used to bring water from the spring to their homes or animal shelters.

Rashid Khudairi of Jordan Valley solidarity said:
“The settlers took control of the main resources that these people needed for their survival – the water and the land. At the same time the settlers destroyed the lives of the children in the village by denying them the right to have a school – forcing them to walk several kilometres every day to attend the school in Al Auja”

In early January 2026, the settlers set up a new outpost right in the middle of the village, in the centre of the community. From this outpost they tightened their control over the villagers. In particular, they blocked Palestinians from leaving or entering the village, especially if they were going to collect water. If families needed medical care of had an emergency they were unable to leave the village to attend the clinic in Al Auja or the hospital in Jericho. The settlers regularly entered Palestinian family homes, meting out their violence, stealing what they wanted and terrifying the children. Many of the children in the village were severely impacted by the trauma they were experiencing – reaching a point where they could never feel safe and secure and constantly being fearful of the next attack.

By the end of January 2026 the last families left, burning the few remaining possessions they couldn’t take with them, to prevent the settlers from taking this last piece of their lives.

In the words of Rashid Khudairi

“This is how they broke the life of the Palestinians in Ras al Auja. This is how the settlers have succeeded with their displacement of Palestinians from their land, forcing them to leave their village. The settlers and the occupation authority are so proud of their methods that the extreme right-wing finance Minister, Smotrich, came to the village in December 2025 to congratulate the young men armed with M-16 rifles who had brutalised a small faming community to the point where they were forced to leave.”