'Israeli settlers laid siege to our home': Inside a Palestinian village under weekly attack

Article: published on 29 July 2026'Israeli settlers laid siege to our home': Inside a Palestinian village under weekly attackByLucy WilliamsonMiddle East correspondent, Reporting fromAl-Mughayyir, in the occupied West BankPublished8 minutes agoThe large, bolted gate of the Abu Alia family compound in al-Mughayyir village held firm against the teenage settlers; its thin metal bars ringing with each blow, as they smashed it again and again with their clubs.But the insults hurled by both sides that day passed freely through the bars.One offensive slur - almost identical in both Hebrew and Arabic - delivered with nonchalant contempt by the Israeli boys bashing at the gate; and with fear and frustration by the Palestinian man inches away from them on the other side, filming the encounter on his phone.This gate, on the edge of al-Mughayyir, has become a weekly frontline in the battle for the occupied West Bank. And this kind of attack by settlers on Palestinian homes, a weekly routine in villages across the territory.Image caption, Clouds of tear gas fired by Israeli troops rise from the streets of al-Mughayyir When we arrived in al-Mughayyir that day, the confrontation at the Abu Alia compound had already begun.The Israeli army and border police were already moving through the streets, and residents were running from their vehicles - soldiers, like settlers, are seen as the enemy here. Some young men rolled rocks into the road to block it, as the sound of gunshots cracked over the village.On the hill above them, the local mosque was calling on people to help the family trapped by the settlers. But slipping past Israeli soldiers has become a dangerous gamble. Residents, medical workers and journalists have all been shot during Israeli military operations in the West Bank.This is what passes for a normal weekend now in al-Mughayyir, and in villages across the West Bank, but it rarely breaks beyond the local news.We spent a week around al-Mughayyir, and its neighb...