On Aug. 21, dozens of Palestinians were finally able to return to the village of Khirbet Zanuta, in the South Hebron Hills of the occupied West Bank. After years of facing constant threats from Israeli settlers, all of Zanuta’s approximately 300 residents were forced to flee their homes when settlers escalated their daily harassment and violent attacks in the wake of October 7.
Zanuta was one of several Palestinian communities in Area C — the two-thirds of the West Bank controlled entirely by the Israeli army — that were displaced during the first weeks of the war. But in early August, following a legal appeal by the residents, the Israeli High Court ruled that the police had failed to protect Palestinians in Zanuta from settler violence, and ordered the authorities to facilitate their return. ….more
