PRESS RELEASE

The Theft of Palestinian Livestock: A Systematic Settler Policy Targeting Livelihoods and Enforcing Forced Displacement

Ramallah, 15 June 2026 – Sharek Youth Forum strongly condemns the ongoing and escalating attacks carried out by Israeli settlers against Palestinian pastoral and agricultural communities across the occupied West Bank. Increasingly, these attacks take the form of livestock theft and unlawful seizure, directly targeting the primary source of income and subsistence for hundreds of Palestinian families, particularly in the Jordan Valley and pastoral communities located in Area C.

What is taking place cannot be dismissed as isolated criminal incidents or individual acts of violence. Rather, it constitutes a systematic policy aimed at undermining Palestinian resilience and forcibly displacing communities from their land. Throughout 2026, the United Nations has documented hundreds of settler attacks against Palestinians and their property across more than 190 Palestinian communities, including the theft of significant numbers of Palestinian livestock. UN reports further indicate that these attacks are frequently accompanied by intimidation, physical assaults, and restrictions preventing Palestinian herders from accessing grazing lands and water sources.

Humanitarian data confirms that settler violence and access restrictions imposed on land and grazing areas have resulted in the displacement of more than 1,800 Palestinians since the beginning of 2026 alone, surpassing the total number of Palestinians displaced by settler violence during the entirety of 2025. Over recent years, dozens of Palestinian communities have been forced to leave their homes as a result of an increasingly coercive environment designed to undermine Palestinian presence in rural and pastoral areas.

The theft of livestock extends far beyond the loss of property. It deprives Palestinian families of their primary source of income, food security, and economic survival. For many Bedouin and pastoral communities, livestock constitutes their sole productive asset and economic foundation. The theft, killing, or confiscation of animals, combined with restrictions on access to grazing lands, leads to the collapse of livelihoods, increased poverty, and heightened food insecurity, forcing families to choose between living under constant threat or abandoning their ancestral lands.

United Nations agencies and international organizations have repeatedly documented that attacks against Palestinian herders and the theft of livestock have become part of a broader pattern of settler violence associated with territorial expansion. Control over grazing areas and water resources is increasingly being used as a tool for the de facto appropriation of Palestinian land and the displacement of its indigenous population.

These practices constitute grave violations of international humanitarian law, particularly the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which prohibit pillage, looting, and the destruction or unlawful appropriation of civilian property, while obligating the occupying power to protect the civilian population and their means of livelihood. Furthermore, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court classifies pillage and the unlawful seizure of property in occupied territory as acts that may amount to war crimes and therefore warrant accountability and prosecution.

Sharek Youth Forum warns of the serious consequences of allowing these violations to continue with impunity. The Forum calls upon the international community, the United Nations, and international human rights organizations to take immediate and effective measures to protect Palestinian pastoral and agricultural communities, ensure safe access to land, grazing areas, and water resources, hold perpetrators accountable, and put an end to policies of forced displacement and land appropriation that threaten the future and existence of thousands of Palestinians.