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As relentless harassment from Israeli settlers drove his brothers from their Bedouin community in the central occupied West Bank, Ahmed Kaabneh remained determined to stay on the land his family had lived on for generations.But when a handful of young settlers constructed a shack around 100 metres above his home and started intimidating his children, 45-year-old Kaabneh said he had no choice but to flee too.As with scores of Bedouin communities across the West Bank, the small cluster of wood and metal houses where Kaabneh’s father and grandfather had lived now lies empty. “It is very difficult… because you leave an area where you lived for 45 years. Not a day or two or three, but nearly a lifetime,” Kaabneh told AFP at his family’s new makeshift house in the rocky hills north of Jericho.”But what can you do? They are the strong ones and we are the weak, and we have no power.”Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and violence there has soared since the Gaza war erupted in October 2023 following Hamas’s attack on Israel.Some 3,200 Palestinians from dozens of Bedouin and herding communities have been forced from their homes by settler violence and movement restrictions since October 2023, the UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA reported in October.The United Nations said this October was the worst month for settler violence since it began recording incidents in 2006.Almost none of the perpetrators have been held to account by the Israeli authorities.- ‘Terrifying’ -Kaabneh, four of his brothers and their families, now live together some 13 kilometres (eight miles) northeast of their original homes, which sat in the al-Hathrura area.Outside his freshly constructed metal house, boys kicked a football while washing hung from the line. But Kaabneh said the area didn’t feel like home.   “We are in a place we have never lived in before, and life here is hard,” he said.Alongside surging violence, the number of settler outposts has exploded in the West Bank.While all Israeli settlements are illegal under international law, outposts are also prohibited under Israeli law. But many end up being legalised by the Israeli authorities.AFP had visited Kaabneh in the al-Hathrura area weeks before he was forced to flee.On the dirt road to his family’s compound, caravans and an Israeli flag atop a hill marked an outpost established earlier this year — one of several to have sprung up in the area.On the other side of the track, in the valley, lay the wreckage of another Bedouin compound whose residents had recently fled. While in Kaabneh’s cluster of homes, AFP witnessed two settlers driving to the top of a hill to surveil the Bedouins below.”The situation is terrifying,” Kaabneh said at the time, with life becoming almost untenable because of daily harassment and shrinking grazing land.Less than three weeks later, the homes were deserted.Kaabneh said the settlers “would shout all night, throw stones, and walk through the middle of the houses.” “They didn’t allow us to sleep at night, nor move freely during the day.”- ‘Thrive on chaos’ -These days, only activists and the odd cat wander the remnants of Kaabneh’s former life — where upturned children’s bikes and discarded shoes reveal the chaotic departure.”We are here to keep an eye on the property… because a lot of places that are abandoned are usually looted by the settlements,” said Sahar Kan-Tor, 29, an Israeli activist with the Israeli-Palestinian grassroots group Standing Together.Meanwhile, settlers with a quadbike and digger were busy dismantling their hilltop shack and replacing it with a sofa and table. “They thrive on chaos,” Kan-Tor explained.”It is, in a way, a land without laws. There (are) authorities roaming around, but nothing is enforced, or very rarely enforced.”A report by Israeli settlement watchdogs last December said settlers had used shepherding outposts to seize 14 percent of the West Bank in recent years.NGOs Peace Now and Kerem Navot said settlers were acting “with the backing of the Israeli government and military”.Some members of Israel’s right-wing government are settlers themselves, and far-right ministers have called for the West Bank’s annexation.Kan-Tor said he believed settlers were targeting this stretch of the West Bank because of its significance for a contiguous Palestinian state.But Kaabneh said the threat of attacks loomed even in his new location in the east of the territory.He said settlers had already driven along the track leading to his family’s homes and watched them from the hill above.”Even this area, which should be considered safe, is not truly safe,” Kaabneh lamented. “They pursue us everywhere.”

Three countries on Thursday pulled out of the Eurovision Song Contest after organisers opted not to vote on Israel’s future participation, allowing it to take part in next year’s event.Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands all announced they were boycotting Eurovision — the world’s largest live music competition — over the decision. Iceland said it was considering its position.Widespread opposition to the war in Gaza had led to mounting calls for Israel to be excluded from the annual contest. There were suspicions, too, about the manipulation of the voting system to favour Israel at last year’s event.But the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said after a meeting in Geneva that there had been “clear support” among members for reforms implemented to “reinforce trust and protect neutrality”.”A large majority of members agreed that there was no need for a further vote on participation and that the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 should proceed as planned, with the additional safeguards in place,” a statement read.Moments after the release of the EBU statement, public broadcasters in Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands — who had all backed Israel’s exclusion — said their countries would not take part next year.- ‘Unconscionable’ -“The situation in Gaza, despite the ceasefire and the approval of the peace process, and the use of the contest for political goals by Israel, makes it increasingly difficult to keep Eurovision a neutral cultural event,” said Alfonso Morales, the secretary general of Spain’s RTVE.Ireland’s RTE said its participation would be “unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there, which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk”.AVROTROS in the Netherlands said a Dutch presence at next year’s event “cannot be reconciled with the public values that are fundamental to our organisation”.A statement from Icelandic broadcaster RUV posted on its website said: “The board of RUV will discuss on Wednesday whether Iceland will participate in the competition next year, despite Israel’s participation.”Iceland had previously threatened to withdraw.Belgium, Finland and Sweden had also said they were considering a boycott over the situation in Gaza.But on Thursday evening, Sweden’s public broadcaster SVT said it backed the new rule changes, and understood that next year’s host country Austria took the security concerns seriously.”Therefore, SVT will participate in Eurovision next year,” it added.- Voting scrutiny -Israel’s President Isaac Herzog welcomed the EBU decision and said his country “deserves to be represented on every stage around the world”.Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also welcomed the news, in a post to X.”I am ashamed of those countries that chose to boycott a music competition like Eurovision because of Israel’s participation,” he added.”The disgrace is upon them.”In the run-up to the meeting, held behind closed doors and under tight security in Geneva, EBU members appeared divided on the issue, with Israel winning support notably from Germany.”Israel is part of Eurovision just as Germany is part of Europe,” Germany’s Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer was quoted by the newspaper Bild.German broadcaster SWR and Austria’s ORF — host of the next competition — hailed Thursday’s decision.Eurovision voting arrangements came under scrutiny after Israel’s Yuval Raphael — a survivor of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack — surged into second place after the public vote at the last edition this year.Similar concerns about voter manipulation were raised the previous year when Israel’s Eden Golan was catapulted into fifth place despite lacklustre scoring from national juries.Eurovision entries are scored first by professional juries, then the public by phone, text or online, which often radically alters the leader board.Countries cannot vote for their own entry, but AVROTROS accused Israel of “proven interference” at the last event this year by lobbying the public overseas to vote for it.burs-jj/rlp/gv