Zanuta
Zanuta is a small village in the South Hebron Hills in the West Bank. After Oct 7th, the settlers made living conditions unbearable for residents by damaging homes, blocking grazing lands, and beating members of the community. After 21 days of constant harassment, the community of Zanuta collectively decided to leave due to safety concerns. Once the community was displaced settlers destroyed the entire village with bulldozers. In total, 27 families in Zanuta, over 250 residents, were displaced.
The High Court of Justice in Israel recently allowed that residents of the Khirbet Zanuta can return to their home. On the morning of August 21st, 2024 residents were able to return to the destroyed community for the first time in 10 months ,yet are not legally allowed to build anything on the land. For weeks residents slept outside their former homes that were destroyed. In a turn of events, the Israeli Civil Administration deemed there was an archeological site in Zanuta, which was grounds for overriding the High Court decision, and forcing out the residents from Zanuta once again. These images were part of a story for The National.
A home that has been destroyed and abandoned in the village of Zanuta.
Fares Samamarah had 21 people in his family when he was displaced from Zanuta and his home was destroyed. Most of the family has been displaced in the neighboring town of Shaweki. Fares poses for a portrait in a recently build structure where he and his family now sleep.
Fares’s son, Jibril, helps a recently born sheep with feeding at the family’s farm in Shaweki.
Community members remove road blocks put by settlers, and begin reentering Zanuta after 10 months of being displaced.
Suleiman poses for portrait outside the tent where he and his family now sleep after being displaced from Rashash. Suleiman has two wives, and thirteen children.
Mohammed Tal (right) with an other member of the community begin repairing an ancient structure on the property by replacing stones that were destroyed by settlers when the community of Zanuta was forced to leave.
Fares Samamarah cleans an abandoned building which has destroyed by settlers. The community will use the building for storage and they begin putting a temporary roof on the structure.
Soldiers confront a resident from Zanuta to enforce no one is rebuilding in the village.
Residents start putting up fencing for grazing to keep sheep on their land in Zanuta. This is the first night back they are legally allowed to return to their land after 10 months of being displaced. Within a month, resdients will be displaced once again.
Residents from Zanuta drive fence posts into the ground after 10 months of being displaced.
Fares Samamarah's son brings his flock to Zanuta to graze after being displaced from the community for 10 months.
Fares Samamarah and other members of Zanuta prayer together on a hilltop and prepare the ground to sleep for the night. It’s the first night residents can return to the land and even though they cannot build, they plan to sleep around the village, to show their presence back on the land.
Mohammed sits with his niece, Nadia in his home in Dahariya, a neighboring city after being displaced from Zanuta.
Mohammed Tell poses for a portrait in his home in Dahariya.
A view of Zanuta now abandoned again after the Israeli Civil Administration overruled the High Court due to an archeological site being found on the land. All the residents have been displaced again and vacated Zanuta.