Khirbet Zanuta

Khirbet Zanuta
Local Development Committee
Arabic transcription(s)
 • Arabicخربة زنوتا
 • LatinZanuta (official)
Khirbet Zanuta is located in State of Palestine
Khirbet Zanuta
Khirbet Zanuta
Location of Khirbet Zanuta within Palestine
Coordinates: 31°22′15″N 34°59′44″E / 31.37083°N 34.99556°E / 31.37083; 34.99556
Palestine grid149/086
StateState of Palestine
GovernorateHebron
Government
 • TypeLocal Development Committee
Area
 • Total
12,000 dunams (12.0 km2 or 4.6 sq mi)
Population
 (2017)[1]
 • Total
131
 • Density11/km2 (28/sq mi)
Name meaning"The ruin of Zanuta"[2]

Khirbet Zanuta (Arabic: خربة زنوتا, meaning "the ruin of Zanuta") is (or was) a Palestinian Bedouin village in the Hebron Governorate in the southern West Bank, located 20 kilometers south of Hebron. It was ethnically cleansed during the 2023 Israel-Hamas war.[3] Some farmers remained or returned and the attacks continued.[4] The location has previously been attacked in 2022.[5] Settlers destroyed the village school and most houses, and the IDF has refused to give its expelled residents permission to rebuild.[6]

Neighbouring villages include ad-Dhahiriya to the northwest and Khirbet Shweika to the northwest, as well as two Israeli settlements, Teneh Omarim to the west and Shim'a to the east. The Meitarim industrial zone just to its east was built for the settlers. The village is adjacent to the Green Line.[7] The population of the village was 131 in 2017.[1]

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), Khirbet Zanuta had a population of 60 in the 2007 census.[8] By 2013 it had 130 residents,[9] a large increase from 1997 when six residents were recorded.[10] The four principal families are the as-Samamera, al-Tel, al-Batat and al-Qaysiyah.[7] In 2012 the number of families registered at Zanuta was 27.[11]

Agriculture is the main economic activity, employing most of the village's working residents. The total land area is approximately 12,000 dunams, of which roughly 3,000 are cultivated, mostly with field crops. Much of the remaining land area is considered "open spaces," while one dunam is classified as built-up areas.[7] Israeli authorities are pressing the residents to leave.[9]

In 2024, the American media reported that the Palestinians had left Zanuta, with non-governmental organisation Breaking the Silence blaming an Israeli settler for this.

  1. ^ a b Preliminary Results of the Population, Housing and Establishments Census, 2017 (PDF). Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) (Report). State of Palestine. February 2018. pp. 64–82. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
  2. ^ Palmer, 1881, p. 431
  3. ^ McKernan, Bethan (31 October 2023). "'A new Nakba': settler violence forces Palestinians out of West Bank villages". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  4. ^ "Zenuta – the settlers send a drone which frightens the sheep". Machsomwatch. 23 April 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  5. ^ "Zenuta - settler terror". Machsomwatch. 7 February 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  6. ^ Gideon LevySettlers Destroyed Their West Bank Village, Israel Forbids Them From Rebuilding It, Haaretz 6 September 2024.
  7. ^ a b c Khirbet Zanuta Village Profile. Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (ARIJ). 2009.
  8. ^ 2007 PCBS Census Archived 2010-12-10 at the Wayback Machine. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. p. 121.
  9. ^ a b Amira Hass, 'West Bank village inhabited for 3,000 years faces eviction,' Haaretz 13 October 2013.
  10. ^ Khirbet Zanuta Profile. Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Levinson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).