Palestinian Territories – Under Israeli army protection, Israeli settlers have carried out large-scale attacks against Palestinian civilians and
their properties in the West Bank, in what appears to be state-sponsored violence, Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights
Monitor said Friday in a statement.
During the past few days, violence has escalated, taking a vengeful and collective punishment nature. The Israeli army
protected the perpetrators after a settler was killed and two others were injured in an armed clash near the entrance of
the Homesh settlement—evacuated since 2005—on Thursday evening.
The settlers carried out 38 attacks since the incident, most of which were executed with full protection from the
Israeli army.
Most recently, a settler deliberately ran over a Palestinian woman, Ghadir Anis Masalmeh, 55, on Friday morning at the
entrance to the Sinjel town, north of Ramallah. The woman lost her life before the attacker escaped.
Violence against Palestinian village residents began on Thursday evening as settlers stormed Palestinian neighborhoods.
They carried out no less than seven large-scale violent attacks and destroyed tombstones in the Burqa village (northwest
of Nablus), which has been repeatedly raided in the past days.
Many villages and neighborhoods in the northern valleys of the Tubas governorate also witnessed violent settler raids
that included throwing stones and assaulting citizens and their property.
The same scene was repeated on the outskirts of the Silat Al Dhaher town, south of Jenin, and the entrance to the
village of Burqa, northwest of Nablus, where three houses and a carwash were attacked.
In the south of the West Bank, settlers uprooted trees, vandalized crops, and attacked homes.
Even more alarming is settlers’ relocation in Homesh settlement, north of Nablus. Protected by the Israeli army, the
settlers built caravans in the place of the former settlement in an official re-inauguration at the expense of the
Palestinian land.
Unofficial settler violence comes in parallel with official Israeli army violence, apparently to push Palestinians out
of their towns and villages near Israeli settlements.
The official Israeli response to settler violence clearly reflects the nature of its apartheid regime, as settler
attacks are not only ignored but protected as well. Meanwhile, Palestinians are prosecuted and tried if they fight these
attacks.
Settlement is a war crime according to the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The presence of
settlers in the Palestinian territories violates the basic principles of international humanitarian law.
The international community should assume its legal and moral responsibilities and compel Israel to respect its
responsibilities under international law, end all settlement manifestations, put an end to settler attacks, and bring
those involved to fair trials.
As they are responsible for settler violence, the Israeli authorities should put an end to double standards in dealing
with events in the Palestinian territories and discourage settler violence by not protecting it.