Sinjil sits along the main road between the Palestinian urban centers of Ramallah and Nablus, and the hills north of the village are dotted with settlements and outposts.
Deepening the town’s isolation, local officials say Israel’s military closed off four of its five entrances, and has built a metal wall around the town cutting it off from 2,000 acres of private land.
Moataz Tawafsha, the head of Sinjil’s municipality, said that after the war in Gaza began in October 2023, settler attacks escalated and the town needed to find a way to protect itself.
“We really feel as if we are living in a collective prison,” Tawafsha said. “As a result, the municipality has taken primary responsibility for providing protection.”
Turmus Ayya beyond the tall metal fencing installed by the Israeli military that closed off four of the five entrances to Sinjil, near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, June 26.
Ammar Awad, Reuters
Since October 2023, settler attacks have killed two people and displaced more than 100 from the Bedouin Palestinian community living on town land, according to Tawafsha. The violence displaced 20 families from their homes in the town’s core during the same period, he said.
Some Sinjil residents credit community protection for their survival.
Abed Foqahaa installed metal bars over the windows of his house and built a tall metal fence around his garden after settlers threw a Molotov cocktail through his window while he and his family were inside about two years ago.
“The fire broke out and we couldn’t control it. We tried to save the house, but all of us suffered from the smoke,” said Foqahaa.
Foqahaa used the town WhatsApp group to call for help. Young men from the town, initially stopped by the Israeli military, arrived and helped carry out Foqahaa’s wheelchair-using father, he said.