Illegal Israeli settlers assault Palestinians, activists in occupied West Bank
Settlers carried out 341 attacks against Palestinians and their property in West Bank in April, says Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission
RAMALLAH, Palestine /ISTANBUL
Illegal Israeli settlers attacked several areas in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, assaulting Palestinians and solidarity activists.
“Israeli settlers attacked activists in the Maghayer a-Deir community east of Ramallah and prevented them from filming,” the Al-Baydar Organization for the Defense of Bedouin Rights, a non-governmental organization, said in a statement.
The organization included a video clip in its statement in which a solidarity activist—apparently Israeli—can be heard speaking in Hebrew and filming one of the settlers during the raid on the Bedouin community before screaming as he is assaulted.
Ahmed Suleiman, a resident of the community, where a settler outpost was recently established near his home, told Anadolu that a group of settlers attacked the community and assaulted Israeli solidarity activists, though no injuries were reported.
“Tonight, the settlers established a new outpost inside the community, brought sheep with them, and prevented us from entering or exiting. If it weren’t for the presence of the activists, we would have been forcibly displaced,” he added.
Suleiman noted that the community is home to around 150 residents, most of whom have moved their livestock and are considering leaving to protect their lives.
On Wednesday morning, a group of illegal settlers under Israeli army protection blocked the main entrance to the community with rocks and dirt barriers, paralyzing movement and preventing residents from coming or going, according to Al-Baydar.
The organization said “the Maghayer area is witnessing an unprecedented escalation in settlement activity,” noting that settlers had established a new outpost two days ago near a Palestinian home, causing extreme fear and forcing the homeowner to flee under threat.
It added that “this step is part of a systematic policy to empty Bedouin areas of their residents and impose facts on the ground in preparation for expanding and linking settlements.”
The statement also noted that “settlers freely roam the area around these communities, some of them armed, accompanied by occupation soldiers who provide protection and prevent residents from objecting.”
Al-Baydar called on the international community and human rights organizations to urgently intervene to stop these violations, launch an investigation into the practices of the occupation and settlers, and work to protect threatened Palestinian communities in Area C, especially Maghayer a-Deir.
According to the Palestinian government's Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, settlers carried out 341 attacks against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank in April.
At least 969 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers in the occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land illegal last July and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
