Fleeing from political persecution in Russia, Andrey X, a political journalist, never imagined that his path would lead him to the occupied West Bank.
Yet, here he is, in the village of Tawani, the largest community in Masafer Yatta, where he’s spent the last year and a half involved in activism – reporting on the Israeli occupation and supporting protective presence operations across the West Bank, particularly in its northern regions.
“I came here initially two and a half years ago, without knowing much about what is happening here,” Andrey explains, his voice calm but carrying the weight of his experiences. “I was just running away from the Russian government because I’m a political journalist, and it wasn’t safe for me to stay there.”
Russia had become increasingly dangerous for political journalists like Andrey, especially after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Being Jewish, he was able to secure an Israeli passport under Israel’s Law of Return. The law, enacted following the ethnic cleansing of more than half of the native Palestinian population in 1948, grants Jews from across the world the right to settle in any part of historic Palestine, including illegal settlements, despite not having any direct connection to the land. Palestinian descendants of those forcibly removed from their land in 1948 are denied this right and often cannot even visit the West Bank of the land of historic Palestine.
“When I arrived here, I knew very little,” Andrey admits. I didn’t know what it looked like on the ground at all, I didn’t know what areas A, B and C of the West Bank were. I didn’t know the status of Gaza.”
“It took me a few months of speaking to people, reading about the conflict, and looking at everything that’s happening to get more and more horrified with the state of this land and what is being done here.”
Andrey’s initial understanding of the conflict was shaped by the limited and often biassed information available in Russian and English media. He thought of it as a complicated conflict with two sides locked in mutual hatred. However, his experiences on the ground led him to a starkly different conclusion:
The biggest problem here is the occupation itself and the system of apartheid that has been imposed on the people who live here by the Israeli state.
Determined to stay and witness the harsh realities of life in the West Bank, Andrey felt an increasing responsibility to report on the daily struggles under apartheid. “At some point, I felt it was my responsibility to do something about it,” he says. “I can be more useful here in Palestine to my neighbours who are being oppressed by the occupation than if I just go to Europe as I initially planned.”
Since Israel launched its bombing campaign in Gaza in October 2023, killing more than 40,300 Palestinians, violence and human rights violations in the West Bank have also escalated.
Attacks on Palestinians and foreigners by illegal Israeli settlers wearing masks and armed with rocks, Kalashnikovs and M-16s across the occupied territory have become commonplace. There have been about 1,250 such attacks since October, according to the United Nations — 25 in the past week alone.
On the evening of 16 August, around 150 illegal settlers stormed the village of Jit in the Qalqilya province of the northern occupied West Bank. The attackers killed one Palestinian and seriously injured another, setting fire to four homes and six vehicles, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry and the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that the Israeli army provided protection to the illegal settlers during the attack on the village.
Nearly 600 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces and settlers in the West Bank between 7 October and 12 August, according to the latest figures from the United Nations humanitarian affairs office.
“In places like Nablus, Jenin, and Tulkarm, the number of raids by Israeli forces has increased sharply, often resulting in mass casualties. And they happen daily in one place or another as more and more lands are taken over by the settlers,” Andrey explains.
“Just a few hundred metres from where I’m based, settlers have claimed land belonging to the Huraini family, marking it with Israeli flags and leaving the family unable to access it since October. The army declared it a closed military zone, yet the settlers are allowed to remain and continue their harassment,” he adds.
These attacks are unprovoked, with settlers and soldiers alike invoking vague “security concerns” to impose their crimes. As Andrey notes, these acts of aggression are part of a long-term strategy of ethnic cleansing, slowly but steadily pushing Palestinians off their land.
“In the village of Ras Al-Auja, where I spend most of my time, settlers built a new outpost five months ago to cut off one of the last places in the West Bank where there is free access to the water source. They keep on attacking Palestinians, who come there with their families. It’s a slow campaign of increased pressure in order to take over that land,” he says.
Yesterday Israeli settlers physically attacked me, my colleague and Palestinians, in an attempt to prevent the villagers of Ras al-Ein from getting water.
Incidents like this now happen DAILY at al-Auja Spring. The settlers and the IOF are escalating the water apartheid. pic.twitter.com/qIaQ2mH0Q5
— Andrey X (@the_andrey_x) August 5, 2024
One of the most chilling aspects of this violence is what rights groups have said is the “endemic impunity” enjoyed by those who perpetrate it. Andrey recounts the story of Zakaria Adraa, a Palestinian who was shot in the stomach by an Israeli settler in October. Despite clear video evidence and the presence of an Israeli soldier at the scene, the settler has faced no legal repercussions. Instead, when human rights activists demanded justice, the army arrested Zakaria, the victim, while the settler continued to roam free.
Andrey’s commitment to his work has not come without personal risk. Recently, he was attacked by Israeli settlers near the Auja Spring. “I was hit on the head with a stick, and my eardrum was pierced,” he shares. “It’s going to take between three and six months to recover, in the best case scenario.”
“But I believe that wherever I am, I need to do everything in order to make life better for the people who are here and to support their struggle.”
But the risks are real, and the violence is often indiscriminate. “In the village of Umm Al-Khayr, there were six houses demolished by the occupation forces,” he recounts. “There is no recourse, no legal recourse. All they can do is rebuild, and the new houses will be demolished again. It’s just a cycle.”
Despite the grim situation, Andrey remains convinced that international attention can make a difference, albeit in limited ways. “When there’s a spotlight on settler violence or military abuses, there’s often a temporary decrease in the severity of the attacks,” he notes.
However, he argues that real change requires more than just attention – it requires action.
Andrey advocates for a protective international presence in the West Bank, similar to the UN peacekeeping missions deployed in other conflict zones. “Right now, we’re operating without any real authority. Our power lies in our cameras and our passports, but we’re limited in what we can achieve. An official international armed force, with proper oversight, could help stop the ethnic cleansing that’s occurring here.”
One of the most impactful moments for Andrey occurred not in the West Bank, but during his early days in Tel Aviv. “I was in Tel Aviv for a couple of days, and I received a message from Ayman Ghraieb, my colleague and activist, who had been stopped at a checkpoint and held for three hours in the heat,” he recalls. “He asked for water, and they started beating him.”
The stark contrast between the modern, cosmopolitan life in Tel Aviv and the harsh realities faced by Palestinians like Ayman just mere miles away was a jarring reminder of the systemic inequalities in Israel and the occupied territories. “We are doing the same thing – reporting, human rights advocacy – but we live in completely different realities,” Andrey says. “That, I think, illustrates Israeli apartheid very well.”
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