Israeli thugs SEIZE olive tree farm belonging to the co-founder of Doctor's Against Genocide
By ljdevon // 2025-09-02
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Dr. Nidal Jboor, a Palestinian-American physician and co-founder of Doctors Against Genocide, has lost he and his family's land. On August 18, he learned that 50 acres of his family’s land in Masafer Yatta — home to over 500 olive trees, almond groves, and vineyards nurtured by his parents and siblings — had been seized by Israeli settlers. They arrived with guns, backed by the Israeli military, and began erecting tents, livestock pens, and the first ugly markers of a settlement that, if history is any guide, will soon be "legalized" by the state. No court order. No sale. No warning. Just the slow, methodical erasure of a family’s legacy, one shovelful of dirt at a time. This isn’t an isolated incident. It’s a blueprint. Since the start of the war, Israel has accelerated its seizure of Palestinian land, gobbling up roughly 7,000 acres in the West Bank alone — often under the watchful eyes of soldiers and the tacit approval of a legal system that retroactively blesses theft. The settlers move in. The military stands guard. The courts drag their feet. And by the time the world notices, the land is "theirs." Key points:
  • Israeli settlers, backed by the military, are illegally seizing Palestinian land in the West Bank, using armed intimidation and bureaucratic delays to displace families like Dr. Nidal Jboor’s, whose 50-acre property was overtaken in August.
  • The U.S. is complicit, supplying weapons (including assault rifles) that end up in the hands of violent settlers, while political leaders turn a blind eye to systematic land theft.
  • This is not new — it’s policy. Israel has long used "military training zones" and retroactive legalization to justify seizures, a tactic exposed in the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land and confirmed by Israeli NGOs.
  • The human cost is devastating. Palestinian activists like Awdah Hathleen (a consultant for No Other Land) are being murdered by settlers with impunity, while families live in fear of losing their homes, their livelihoods, and their lives.

The anatomy of a land grab: How theft becomes law

When Dr. Jboor’s family discovered settlers on their land, they did what any law-abiding citizen would do: They checked the records. No military order. No legal proceeding. No sale. The land was, undeniably, theirs. And yet, as Jboor told Middle East Eye, "Once they build these structures, they start claiming it's their land, and it's time for us to go." This is how ethnic cleansing works in slow motion. The process is so routine it has a name: "facts on the ground." Settlers move onto Palestinian land, often under the guise of "security" or "military needs." They erect temporary structures — tents, animal pens, outposts — that, over time, become permanent. The Israeli military, rather than removing the interlopers, provides protection. When Palestinians protest or file lawsuits, the courts delay hearings for years, during which the settlers dig in deeper. Eventually, the state retroactively legalizes the theft, declaring the land part of an expanded settlement or military zone. This isn’t speculation. It’s documented policy. A 2023 report by the Israeli NGO Kerem Navot found that the state uses the pretext of "military training zones" to seize Palestinian land, with the explicit goal of "reducing the Palestinian population’s ability to use the land and transferring as much of it as possible to Israeli settlers." Masafer Yatta, where Jboor’s family lives, is a prime example. In the 1980s, Israel declared 3,000 hectares of the area a "firing zone," forcing Palestinians to fight for decades to remain on their own property. Now, settlers are finishing the job. And when Palestinians resist? They’re met with violence. Awdah Hathleen, an activist and teacher who worked on No Other Land, was shot and killed by a settler in July — just three miles from Jboor’s property. The killer, Yinon Levi, had been sanctioned by the Biden administration for previous attacks on Palestinians. (Those sanctions were later lifted by Trump.) Despite video evidence, Levi was released without charges. "That’s why I’m so worried about the safety of my family," Jboor said. His fear isn’t abstract. Settler violence in the West Bank has surged since October 7, with over 500 attacks recorded in the first half of 2024 alone. The message is clear: Resist, and you will be punished. Submit, and you will be erased.

The ethnic cleansing operation in Gaza is ensnaring Americans

"I'm an American citizen," Jboor said. "This is my land. My goal is to talk to our politicians to defend my rights as an American citizen, and as a Palestinian citizen too, because those weapons that the settlers have are American weapons." His plea falls on deaf ears. In Congress, politicians from both parties trip over themselves to pledge allegiance to Israel, while the media frames Palestinian resistance as "terrorism" and settler violence as "clashes." The result? A one-sided narrative that paints Palestinians as the aggressors — even as their land is stolen, their homes demolished, and their children killed. "We know these settlers are violent," Jboor said. "I'm scared to death that settlers might kill my brother-in-law, my sister, my father, my uncle, or my cousins." Documentaries like No Other Land — which exposed the forced displacements in Masafer Yatta — are kryptonite to Israeli occupation. When the world sees the faces of the stolen, hears the voices of the displaced, and understands the mechanics of theft, the propaganda crumbles. That’s why Israel bans journalists from Gaza. That’s why settlers attack cameramen. That’s why the U.S. media ignores stories like Jboor’s. "Every tree for them is like a piece of themselves," Jboor said of his family. "So it's not easy for someone to walk in your door and tell you that all you've been working on for decades is theirs now, and you just need to leave." Sources include: MiddleEastEye.net Keremnavot.org  [PDF] Enoch, Brighteon.ai
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