‘Our aim is that children are protected’: besieged West Bank school fortifies its defences against settler violence- After deaths of five students at hands of Israeli settlers in last academic year, al-Mughayyir’s teachers and pupils are on high alert

Children watch Israeli security forces deploying in al-Mughayyir on 29 September, when dozens of settlers from hilltop outposts raided the village, leaving at least five burnt-out cars. Photograph: Zain Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images

 

William Christou and Sufian Abu Taha in al-Mughayyir

Tue 3 Nov 2026

This year, parents in al-Mughayyir had to be persuaded to send their children back to school. Israeli settlers had killed five teenage students last academic year – one of them at the school gates.

To reassure parents, teachers of the public secondary school gave a tour of the facilities, which they had spent the summer break fortifying. Metal fences now towered over the schoolyard’s walls and the door had been replaced by a sturdy metal gate. A new wall shielded the classrooms from a hilltop where last academic year a settler had shot dead two people, including a student.

Al-Mughayyir, a town of about 3,000 people north-east of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, is under a siege by Israeli settlers. Armed settlers regularly raid the village, assaulting residents, attacking homes and seizing livestock. Israeli soldiers set up checkpoints that prevent people from entering or leaving for hours at a time.

The school is isolated on the very edge of the village, close to its entrance. Settlers stage their raids around the school, attacking under the watchful eye of the Israeli military.

A single Israeli soldier stands at the entrance of the village, his rifle slung over his shoulder as he paces back and forth idly. It is he who decides who can come and go in the village. The excited shouting of schoolchildren playing can be heard from where he stands; the children’s voices echo across the otherwise quiet village, most shops shuttered despite it being a weekday.

Residents say the violence is part of a wider project to displace Palestinians from their land, one that has already driven smaller communities from their homes. Now, they fear the same tactics are being turned against an entire village in an attempt to make life so intolerable that residents leave.

“When the settlers began their attacks, they began in the Jordan valley area, displacing communities of farmers consisting of 10, 20 people. Now, they are trying to displace entire villages. What’s happening in al-Mughayyir is the beginning of this project,” said Ameen Abu Alia, the 54-year-old mayor of the town... READ MORE   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/nov/03/our-aim-is-that-children-are-protected-besieged-west-bank-school-fortifies-its-defences-against-settler-violence

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Rights groups call for help stopping Israeli 'pogrom' against Palestinians in West Bank: B’Tselem and Rabbis for Human Rights among others urge action after four Palestinians are killed by settlers near Nablus

Israeli soldiers outside the Nablus Specialized Hospital on Friday. The army said it had detained two Palestinians in the hospital due to their alleged 'participation in the shooting' in the village of Tel (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)

Alex MacDonald

Published date: 24 July 2026 17:10 BST | Last update: 18 hours 52 mins  ago

Israeli rights groups have called on the international community to intervene in order to prevent a "pogrom" in the occupied West Bank.

Organisations including B’Tselem, Rabbis for Human Rights and the Palestinian-run Adalah said action was needed to prevent further deaths after Israeli settlers killed four Palestinians on Friday.

A group of armed settlers killed the four Palestinians in the village of Tel, near Nablus, while a Palestinian seized a weapon from one of the settlers and opened fire, killing two of them.

Though an Israeli army investigation found that the settlers had entered an off-limits area, the Israeli government ordered the army to demolish the home of the Palestinian accused of killing the two settlers.

The military said it was conducting an operation in Nablus to arrest dozens of Palestinians who "participated in the incident".

Rights groups said that "immediate pressure" must be placed on Israel to stop further attacks, prevent "pogroms" and uphold international law.

"In recent days, violence by settler militias, enabled and supported by the Israeli army, has escalated across the West Bank, including the torching and destruction of Palestinian property, and the forced expulsion of families and communities," they said in a statement.

"These attacks have been met with silence and inaction from much of the international community, allowing the violence to continue and intensify."

Last month, B’Tselem said Israeli forces were killing Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank at the highest rate since 1967, with 54 shot dead in 2025 alone.

The Israeli human rights group said nearly one in four Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the occupied territory since October 2023 has been a minor, marking the highest proportion since the occupation began.

Despite the high child death toll, no one has been held accountable and there are no known indictments linked to the killings since October 2023.

B’Tselem said the deaths were not "isolated mistakes or violations of military orders".

Instead, it said they were the result of an Israeli policy that permits lax rules of engagement, routinely labels Palestinians as "terrorists", and shields soldiers who use lethal force.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-rights-groups-call-international-community-stop-pogrom-against-palestinians-occupied 

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Israel approves over $400m to fund 34 settlements in occupied West Bank

Bezalel Smotrich says the settlement expansion is intended to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state... READ MORE  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/revolution-israel-approves-funds-34-new-settlements-occupied-west-bank

Meanwhile, Israel is accelerating its ethnic cleansing of Palestinian residents. In two and a half years, 59 Palestinian communities have been expelled, and more than 40,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes throughout the West Bank.

 B'Tselem בצלם بتسيلم

@btselem

 

Under cover of the Israel-US attack on Iran and Lebanon, Israel’s security cabinet approved the establishment of 34 new settlements in the West Bank. The resolution was kept secret for several weeks and published only after the ceasefire began. 

 

These settlements join 68 others approved by the government since it took office, and more than 107 outposts built with assistance from the state. 

 

Meanwhile, Israel is accelerating its ethnic cleansing of Palestinian residents. In two and a half years, 59 Palestinian communities have been expelled, and more than 40,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes. 

 

This mechanism relies on close cooperation between two branches operated by the Israeli regime: armed settler militias carrying out daily violence on the ground with support and assistance from the military and the police, and a governmental-legal system that legitimizes and institutionalizes their actions. Over the past weekend alone, dozens of violent attacks by settlers against Palestinian residents and their property were documented.

 

https://x.com/btselem/status/2047316557953437928/photo/1 

 

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