Israeli army ransacks Bedouin Palestinian camp .
AL-MUNTAR , West Bank 1996-08-26
Israeli security forces ransacked a Bedouin encampment in the West Bank on Monday to expel them from an area which Palestinians say had been earmarked for Jewish settlement expansion , residents said .
They said soldiers stole a gold necklace and about $ 2,000 in Israeli currency from an elderly woman and her daughter-in-law while rummaging through their luggage before destroying family shacks and animal barns .
" They rammed our shacks with jeeps and destroyed the shack over my baby , " said 25-year-old Amina Muhammad . "
He was saved only by a miracle . "
A spokesman for Israel 's civil administration in the West Bank said the Bedouins were moved because they were encamped on an Israeli army firing zone .
The spokesman Peter Lerner said he knew nothing about soldiers having stolen anything from the Palestinians .
Israeli security forces have been pursuing Bedouin Palestinians living in the desolate wilderness between East Jerusalem and the Dead Sea , where several Jewish settlements have been established .
The Israeli army also uses the area for military training .