text: 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 .