Call to Action: Forced displacement of Mu’arrajat East community

Today the longstanding herding community of al Mu’arrajat East has been forcibly displaced from the Jericho area because of settler violence which intensified in this area after 7 October 2023. This newly displaced community joins hundreds of other Palestinian herders, forced to leave their homes and livelihoods across the West Bank in 2025 due to settler violence, which is often facilitated and supported by Israeli Forces.

The displaced remain in limbo, dependent on humanitarian assistance and without a viable return strategy. Herding communities that remain in Area C are increasingly isolated and at high risk of settler violence and forced displacement during this period of intensive land grabbing by Israeli settlers, intent on emptying vast tracts of occupied West Bank land of Palestinians to clear the way for the State of Israel’s settlement enterprise.

The Protection partners are on the ground and are working to meet the displaced community's protection needs as part of a broader multisectoral response, including through MHPSS, legal and planning support, protective presence, advocacy, and other specialised protection services for women, children and other vulnerable groups.

The Protection Cluster calls for:

• Robust advocacy and dialogue to demand the State of Israel to secure the safe, immediate and permanent return of the displaced.
• Donor agility to boost funding for rapid multisectoral response to the affected population in their current locations.
• Action to stop all practices and policies that contribute to the coercive environment which induces forcible transfer in the West Bank.