[[link removed]]

ISRAELI SETTLERS, SOLDIERS ‘WIPING PALESTINIAN COMMUNITIES OFF THE
MAP’ IN THE WEST BANK  
[[link removed]]


 

Jake Johnson
April 17, 2024
Common Dreams
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ "While the attention of the world is focused on Gaza, abuses in the
West Bank, fueled by decades of impunity and complacency among
Israel's allies, are soaring." _

When the settlers attacked this home in Qusra, a group of 50 to 60
came, shot into the property, cut the power lines, and set the car on
fire. When residents came to help the family; four members of the
community were killed and 20 others wounded. , Photograph by David
Lombeida

 

Israeli soldiers have either passively watched or participated in the
uprooting of at least seven communities in the West Bank since October
of last year, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday in a new report
[[link removed]] documenting
surging settler violence in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The rights group interviewed dozens of eyewitnesses and examined video
footage showing harassment and other abuse of Palestinians in the West
Bank "by men in Israeli military uniforms carrying M16 assault
rifles."

Following the Hamas-led October 7 attack on southern Israel
[[link removed]], the Israeli military
drafted more than 5,000 settlers into "regional defense" units in the
West Bank, _Haaretz_reported
[[link removed]] earlier this
year. The Israeli newspaper noted that "alongside this large-scale
mobilization, the [Israel Defense Forces] has distributed some 7,000
weapons to the battalions as well as to settlers who were not
recruited into the army but received them as civilians whom the army
considers eligible to carry military arms
[[link removed]]."

HRW's investigation found that "armed settlers, with the active
participation of army units, repeatedly
[[link removed]] cut
off road access and raided Palestinian communities, detained,
assaulted, and tortured residents, chased them out of their homes and
off their lands at gunpoint or coerced them to leave with death
threats, and blocked them from taking their belongings."

"Israeli settlers and soldiers are literally wiping Palestinian
communities off the map," said
[[link removed]] Omar
Shakir, HRW's Israel and Palestine
[[link removed]] director.

The new report comes days after Israeli settlers—escorted by IDF
soldiers—went on their latest destructive and deadly rampage
[[link removed]] in
the West Bank, killing at least two Palestinians, injuring dozens, and
setting homes and vehicles ablaze. At least 20 households were
displaced after Israeli settlers burned down their homes.

The wave of settler violence came after a missing 14-year-old Israeli
boy was found dead in the area around the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The Israeli military said the boy was killed in a "terrorist attack."

Since October 7, according to
[[link removed]] the
United Nations, Israeli settlers have launched more than 720 attacks
on Palestinians in the West Bank, displacing at least 206 households
comprised of 1,244 people—including 603 children. Israeli soldiers
in uniform have been present at many of the attacks.

"Settlers and soldiers have displaced entire Palestinian communities,
destroying every home, with the apparent backing of higher Israeli
authorities," Bill Van Esveld, associate children's rights director at
HRW, said in a statement Wednesday. "While the attention of the world
is focused on Gaza, abuses in the West Bank, fueled by decades of
impunity and complacency among Israel's allies, are soaring."

HRW's new report examines five West Bank communities that have come
under attack by Israeli settlers, including one in which uniformed
Israeli men armed with assault rifles entered tents and destroyed or
stole people's belongings, abused residents, and threatened to kill
them if they didn't leave the area.

"One man in uniform kicked me in the back of my neck," a Palestinian
mother told HRW. "They said, 'Go to the valley, and if you come back,
we will kill you.'"

None of the families forcibly evicted from the five communities
examined in the HRW report have been allowed to return home.

"Palestinian children have seen their families brutalized, and their
homes and schools destroyed, and the Israeli authorities are
ultimately to blame," Van Esveld said Wednesday. "Senior state
officials are fueling or failing to prevent these attacks, and
Israel's allies are not doing enough to stop that."

Following the latest wave of settler violence in the West Bank this
past weekend, a coalition of human rights organizations said in
a joint statement
[[link removed]] Wednesday
that "the international community must swiftly and decisively pressure
the government of Israel to halt these attacks and urgently
de-escalate the situation."

"With international attention centered on Gaza, the government of
Israel has not only allowed settler violence to spiral but also
persisted in the expansion of Israeli settlements built on Palestinian
land and unlawfully seized Palestinian territory by designating it as
'state land,' blatantly violating international law," the groups
noted. "Concerted efforts are needed to tackle the root cause of
settler violence by permanently dismantling settlement outposts and
ensuring the safe return of displaced Palestinians to their lands."

_Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams._

* Palestinians
[[link removed]]
* West Bank
[[link removed]]
* Settler violence
[[link removed]]
* community destruction
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]