West Bank family says Israeli order blocks access to bathroom

A Palestinian family in the occupied West Bank said Monday that an Israeli military order had blocked them from reaching their bathroom for three weeks, after tensions with nearby settlers led the army to intervene.

Ikhlas al-Hathalin, 42, lives with her family of 14 in Umm al-Kheir, a village near the settlement of Carmel. The family's outhouse is between their home and a caravan that Israeli settlers installed less than 100 metres, or 330 feet, away last year.

The Israeli military told AFP that "a temporary closed military zone order" had been issued "in order to disperse all parties involved".

Hathalin said that before the order, settlers would come to the bathroom, knock on the door and tell the family to leave. She said the family now uses bathrooms at the community centre or at neighbours' homes, and described the hardship and embarrassment as severe.

The dispute escalated earlier this month when settlers installed a swinging chair between the family's house and the outhouse, prompting a confrontation that drew in Israeli forces.

The military said soldiers in the area regularly see "unlawful activity by Israelis", including possible violent incidents or actions against Palestinians or their property.

Hathalin said the order also prevents the family from reaching a nearby sheep pen, which she described as its source of livelihood, except when Israeli forces are present every three to four days. The military said the closure was temporary but did not give an end date. It also said the family still had access to its livestock.

Ahmed al-Hathalin, a member of the village council, said residents were trying to put pressure on the occupation authorities, but he said the matter was in the hands of settlers and described the current Israeli government as a government of settlers.

Behind the Hathalin home, five new mobile homes mark the latest settlement outpost taking shape in the area.

Excluding east Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, among about three million Palestinians.