A Village Erased: Yanoun’s Families Forced Out after Years of Pressure

By Fayha Shalash

Once sustained by land, livestock, and communal life, Yanoun’s families describe to the Palestine Chronicle how years of settler pressure and military backing culminated in their expulsion.

Fawzi belongs to one of the ten families that lived in Yanoun before the village was forcibly emptied. Speaking about his years there, he recalled a life defined by stability and self-reliance—now violently taken from them.

“We used to cultivate the land around us, which stayed green throughout the year,” he told The Palestine Chronicle.

“We planted whatever we wanted and lived off it. We gave to the land, and it gave back to us. We grazed our livestock safely and slept in our courtyards because of the area’s tranquility. We didn’t feel like we were living under occupation.”

After the year 2000, illegal Israeli Jewish settlers intensified their pressure on Yanoun, a fertile Palestinian community surrounded by farmland and natural springs. The village’s agricultural richness made it a clear target within a broader system of settlement expansion and land seizure.

Harassment became systematic. Illegal settlers assaulted residents, chased them from their fields, and stormed their homes, invoking claims over the Maqam Nabi Nun—a local shrine long known to Palestinians—which some Jewish traditions identify as the tomb of Joshua, son of Nun.

Although illegal settlers designated the site as a Jewish holy place, Palestinians have lived continuously in Yanoun for centuries. Similar religious claims have repeatedly been used across the occupied West Bank to justify settlement expansion and the confiscation of Palestinian land.

“They would storm the area weekly to harass us and try to force us out,” Fawzi said. “But we refused to leave our land and our homes. We resisted.”

The attacks escalated sharply after the start of the genocidal war on Gaza, in October 2023. Armed settlers increasingly entered Yanoun under the protection of the Israeli army, which not only enabled the assaults but also directly enforced the displacement.

“The intensity of the attacks didn’t make us consider leaving, even though they destroyed our homes, the village school, and confiscated our belongings,” Fawzi said. “When they realized we would not leave, they gathered two weeks ago and gave us a deadline to evacuate.”

Residents refused. Shortly afterward, Israeli forces entered the village and forcibly expelled them at gunpoint—methods that mirror those used by settler militias during the Nakba of 1948.

“We left filled with anguish and pain,” Fawzi said. “Everything we had built was scattered before our eyes like a mirage. Now we are searching for shelter after living with dignity in Yanoun. We ask the people of Aqraba and neighboring villages to host us until we find somewhere to live—while our hearts remain in Yanoun.”

Under Siege

Khirbet Yanoun, a small Palestinian agricultural community, has endured years of sustained pressure, primarily from surrounding settlements that have steadily expanded onto its land. What has unfolded there reflects a broader pattern in which settlement activity systematically empties rural Palestinian communities of their inhabitants.

Youssef Diriya, a member of the Settlement Resistance Committee in Aqraba, told the Palestine Chronicle that after 2000, international activists began living in Yanoun to help protect residents from displacement, as settlers were already working methodically to force Palestinians out.

Meanwhile, settler violence intensified over time. In one attack, an elderly resident lost his hearing. Conditions deteriorated further after the war on Gaza began, as settlers occupied homes and expelled families, Diriya said.

“Since the start of the war, the people of Yanoun have been living under siege,” he told The Palestine Chronicle. “A gate surrounds the village. No one is allowed to enter—not even residents who live elsewhere. Medicine and animal feed are banned, and residents were given a deadline to leave.”

The assault on Yanoun coincided with similar attacks on villages such as Fasayil, Tana, and Al-Auja—areas rich in water resources. These lands have been seized under fabricated claims that settlers’ ancestors once lived there, despite continuous Palestinian presence dating back to before the Ottoman era.

Five families remained in Yanoun until the final stage of the assault, enduring relentless attacks by settlers and the Israeli army. Isolated, besieged, and cut off from basic necessities, they were left without any viable means of survival.

“If a son grows up, he is forbidden from building a home and is forced to leave Yanoun,” Diriya said. “Construction and renovation are prohibited. Another part of Yanoun lies in Area B, where more than 13 families live, yet they face the same restrictions. They are even barred from praying in the village mosque and from expanding their homes—just as happened to their neighbors in Upper Yanoun.”

Yanoun, which spans 16,000 dunams, has now been entirely confiscated, with four illegal Jewish settlements established on its land. Aqraba, whose total land area exceeds 100,000 dunams, has lost more than 90 percent of its territory, with 18 settlements and outposts imposed on it.

(The Palestine Chronicle)