The Israeli occupation army continues its campaign in the West Bank by storming and raiding several areas and towns, during which it carries out arrests and executions against Palestinians it describes as wanted, in addition to the West Bank witnessing an escalation in acts of violence at the hands of settlers under the protection of the army and police.
Reports document aspects of these attacks in the West Bank, making it difficult to distinguish between the practices of the Israeli army and settlers, with the encouragement of the current pro-settlement Israeli government, according to what Palestinians and human rights organizations confirm.
“The dividing line that did not exist in the first place between the army and the settlers” in the West Bank has been completely removed, according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.
Carmel says that since the start of the war on Gaza, “we have seen some settlers wearing military uniforms,” noting that “religious Zionist settlers are now more visible in military uniforms and among senior officers.”
Carmel believes that the goal of the Netanyahu government is clear, which is to “strengthen the settlement movement, and thus make it impossible for the Palestinians to have any chance of obtaining an independent state,” pointing out that settlers and soldiers who commit acts of violence are only convicted “in very rare cases.”
In turn, the Director of Advocacy at the Union of Palestinian Agricultural Work Committees, Moayad Bisharat, says that the settlers saw the presence of the extremist pro-settlement ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich in the Israeli government as a “green light” to attack the Palestinians.
Human Rights Watch denounced what it sees as the lack of a separation, and the resulting uncertainty, saying that the Israeli government is responsible for the increase in settler violence over the past eight months, in addition to the organization’s investigation into 5 attacks carried out by settlers in 5 different Palestinian villages between October and November. November 2023, after which it concluded last April that “the Israeli army either participated in violent settler attacks, or did not provide protection to the Palestinians from them.”
The organization added, “Evidence indicates that armed settlers, with the active participation of army units, closed roads and attacked Palestinian communities on several occasions, detaining residents, assaulting them, torturing them, and expelling them from their homes and lands.”
For its part, the Israeli non-governmental human rights organization Yesh Din, which also monitors attacks committed by settlers, said that 2023 was indeed the peak year for these attacks and assaults.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) monitored 1,096 attacks carried out by settlers against Palestinians in the period between October 7 and March 31 in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since 1967, bringing the average to 6 incidents per day, compared to two incidents. In 2022.
In front of the army
Settlers, who sometimes wear army uniforms, launch attacks against Palestinians, burn their farms, homes, and cars, and steal their livestock, and this happens in full view of the soldiers many times, including what happened last April 13, when hundreds of settlers attacked the village of Duma in the northern West Bank. They stabbed a resident after Israeli reports that an Israeli boy was found dead.
The head of the Duma Village Council, Suleiman Dawabsha, told Agence France-Presse that the Israeli army “was present on that day inside the village to ensure the security and protection of the settlers” during their attack, despite Israeli military claims that the forces in the West Bank are there “to protect the property and lives of all residents and to resolve clashes.” .
More than 490,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, excluding East Jerusalem, in illegal settlements under international law, in addition to 3 million Palestinians, at a time when settlement expansion is accelerating under successive governments, especially the pro-settlement administrations led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Since the start of the devastating Israeli war in the Gaza Strip on October 7, the occupation and settler campaigns in the West Bank have increased, including the execution of 6 Palestinians during its storming of the village of Kafr Dan, west of Jenin in the West Bank.
For its part, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced the death of 12 Palestinians by occupation bullets in various areas of the West Bank, within less than 48 hours, in light of reports of the martyrdom of at least 524 Palestinians in the West Bank at the hands of the occupation forces or settlers since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials.
Palestinian Prisoner Club: The number of arrests carried out by the occupation in the West Bank has risen to 9,170 since October 7#Infograph #Gaza_War pic.twitter.com/V68W1DsrwT
– Tel Aviv Tribune Palestine (@AJA_Palestine) June 12, 2024
This is accompanied by the attacks documented by Palestinian prisoner organizations and institutions against detainees in the occupation prisons, in addition to the increasing pace of daily arrests in conjunction with the continuing incursions by hundreds of Israeli settlers into Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, guarded by Israeli police forces.