On Saturday 21st February settlers invaded Khirbet Samra (see video below). Here we are sharing the words of a former resident, M, whose family was driven out of the village last year.

Today I stood on a hill overlooking my land — the land I know better than I know the lines of my own face. I know where every stone lies, the shade of every tree, even the smell of the soil after the rain. It is the land I grew up with, and the land that grew within me.

I saw buses bringing settlers and their families. They walked there peacefully, laughing, taking pictures, living beautiful moments. From a distance, the scene looked ordinary… perhaps even beautiful.

But behind this scene is a story no one sees.

The owner of the land stands on the hill, only watching.

Forbidden to take a single step toward it.

Forbidden to touch its soil.

Forbidden to live in the place that carries his name and his history.

The pain is not only that I cannot reach it.

The pain is seeing my right in front of my eyes and being forced into silence.

To see your land treated as if it has no owner while you are still alive—this is a pain beyond words.

Yes, there is deep sorrow in my heart.

But within it, there is also a dignity that cannot be broken.

There is pain… but it is the pain of a man who knows his worth, knows his right, and does not give up.

This is a statement from M, a former resident of Khirbet Samra who, last year, was displaced from the land he and his family had lived on for over two decades.

After driving out many families through constant harassment, theft and violence, settlers are now starting to actively take over Palestinian land in Khirbet Samra. As M. reports, “settlers used a bulldozer to level the land, and put up a fence around it. They want to settle there”. The occupation’s colonialist project is dangerously clear: to establish another zionist settlement, unquestionably illegal under international law, on Palestinian land.