Khirbet al-Marajim

Khirbet al-Marājim (Arabic: خربة المراجم), also spelled Khirbet al-Marājem or Khirbet al-Marjama, is a small Palestinian community located south of Nablus in the northern West Bank. The hamlet lies in the area classified as Area C under Israeli control.

The community is documented in mapping and rights-monitoring projects including those of Bimkom, PHTrail, and others focused on the plight of “unrecognized” Palestinian localities. ^[1][2]

Bimkom's “Mobile Pastoralist Communities” database locates Khirbet al-Marājim among small hamlets in Area C of the Nablus governorate, under the grid index used for West Bank planning documents. ^[3] According to the same database and overlay-map layers, the approximate geographic coordinates are 32.2340° N latitude, 35.2350° E longitude.

The Israeli civilian occupation authorities deny Khirbet al-Marājim recognizion, making nearly all structures subject to demolition orders. According to Bimkom, this lack of recognition leads to restricted access to basic services and infrastructure. ^[4]

According to Land Research Center (LRC), in 2024 a house in Khirbet al-Marājim was demolished and its occupants displaced — part of a broader pattern of forced displacement of Palestinian communities in Area C. ^[5] More broadly, humanitarian reporting by UN OCHA documents a sharp increase in demolitions in 2025 across the West Bank, with nearly 900 Palestinians displaced so far this year due to lack of Israeli-issued building permits — a trend that affects hamlets such as Khirbet al-Marājim. ^[6]

Khirbet al-Marājim has suffered violent attacks by Israeli settlers. On 14 March 2025, armed settlers attacked the hamlet, burning six homes and a vehicle, and injuring residents. ^[7][8] Photographic evidence of destruction and resident displacement from these incidents has been published by the group ActiveStills. ^[9]

Because the hamlet lacks planning approval, residents of Khirbet al-Marājim have no formal access to basic infrastructure (water networks, electricity, paved roads), relying instead on rain-fed cisterns, occasional water deliveries, generator or solar for electricity, and unpaved tracks. ^[10]

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), recent campaigns of demolitions, forced displacement, and systematic restrictions on Palestinian communities in the West Bank — including Area C hamlets — amount to practices that may violate international humanitarian and human rights law. While Khirbet al-Marājim is not always named explicitly, its circumstances mirror those described in HRW's 2025 report on forced displacement policies. ^[11]

On April 4, 2016, Jamal al-Taweel and Hisham al-Jabrawi's 2 homes at Khirbet al-Marajim near Duma were demolished.^[12]. On August 10 of the same year, village resident Moussa Muhammad Salman, an 85-year-old man, died after being run over by a motorbike, reportedly driven by an Israeli settler. In incident, which took place while, astride a donkey, he was herding his flock of sheep, occurred near Khirbet al-Marajim. His donkey was also killed.^[13] A week later, Israeli bulldozers razed a one-room structure owned by Tariq Dirawi in Khirbet al-Marajim.^[14]

In 2025, increased demolition activity as reported by UN OCHA has affected dozens of West Bank communities. ^[15]. A documented settler attack in March 2025, with burning of homes, has drawn media and rights-group attention. ^[16][17]

• Area C
• Israeli settlement
• Human rights in the State of Palestine