1/20/2024–|Last updated: 1/20/202406:56 PM (Mecca time)
Settlers’ attacks on Palestinian villages have increased since the Battle of Al-Aqsa and the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip led to the displacement of hundreds of Palestinians. This was accompanied by an increase in the number of detainees in the occupied West Bank and an increase in their abuse in the occupation prisons.
A Palestinian was injured after dozens of settlers attacked Palestinian farmers in the village of Ramoun, east of the city of Ramallah in the West Bank.
Local sources said that a group of armed settlers stormed the entrances to the village and, with the protection of members of the occupation army, attacked Palestinian farmers while they were on their lands located between the villages of Deir Dibwan and Ramon. They attempted to steal sheep and destroy buildings that had been erected by Palestinians about 20 years ago.
Settlers also attacked Palestinian citizens for the second day in a row in Susiya, Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron.
Settlers prevent sheep herders from accessing their pastures and threaten them with weapons and forcible displacement from their homes. Susya and other population centers in Masafer Yatta are subjected to continuous attacks by the occupation forces and settlers, but the frequency of attacks has increased significantly since the seventh of last October.
Forced displacement
In the same context, the National Office for Land Defense and Settlement Resistance revealed that settlers view the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip as a golden opportunity for displacement and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank.
The weekly settlement report explained that settlers are using violence, with the help of the occupation army, to displace Palestinian communities from areas classified as (C).
He pointed out that the “terrorist practices of settlers” worsened after last October 7, and prompted more than 1,500 Palestinian citizens from at least 25 communities to flee their homes and areas, raising the percentage of those displaced during the past year to three times that of the year 2022.
According to the report, the settlers have turned into military and paramilitary formations in times of war, armed and directed by the extremist Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, financed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and receiving clear sponsorship from the state, army, and occupation police.
Israeli human rights organizations reveal that the current settler violence aimed at displacement is “unprecedented” in terms of frequency and intensity, especially in the south of Hebron Governorate.
The report explained that in the context of the aggression against the Gaza Strip, settler terrorist groups began to become active in the West Bank, announcing their goals with complete clarity. These are groups of “price tag” sisters, who carry out their activities without restrictions on social media networks and call on Palestinians to immigrate to Jordan.
One of these groups is an organization calling itself “Migrate Now,” and calling on its Facebook page “Palestinians in the West Bank to immigrate to Jordan before it is too late.”
This page publishes a picture of a map that includes Palestine and part of Jordan, showing parts of Jordanian territory within the new Israeli map. It is a map presented by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in Paris last year, and in the middle is the logo of the “Aragon” organization known for its criminal history in Palestine.
Arrests
In light of the policy of harassment pursued by the Israeli occupation and its attempt to prevent operations in the West Bank, the occupation arrested at least 22 Palestinians from the West Bank from yesterday evening, Friday, until Saturday morning, including a woman from Jerusalem and children.
A joint statement by the Palestinian Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs Authority and the Prisoners’ Club stated that the total number of arrests since October 7 has risen to about 6,115, including those who were arrested from homes and at military checkpoints, those who were forced to surrender themselves under pressure, and those who were held hostage.
The arrest campaigns were accompanied by widespread raids and harassment, in addition to widespread sabotage and destruction of citizens’ homes, the destruction of infrastructure, and the confiscation of money and vehicles.
The report indicated that the total number of Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons until the end of December 2023 amounted to about 8,800, including more than 80 female prisoners.
Abuse and torture
Within the framework of the occupation’s policy of abusing detainees, which has increased in frequency since the Al-Aqsa Battle of Flood, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club stated in a statement that Megiddo Prison was one of the most prominent prisons in which detainees witnessed the most severe torture and abuse, in addition to what happened in Negev Prison.
The statement explained that the detainees were subjected to systematic and collective torture and brutal abuse.
In addition to the brutal and horrific attacks in prison, the prison administration continues its policy of starvation, which has affected their health conditions, in addition to the extreme cold, which has greatly exacerbated their suffering, and the accompanying deprivation of prisoners of sufficient clothing and blankets, in addition to the severe overcrowding that Departments witness it.
The report stated that the majority of detainees sleep on the floor, and that no group was exempt from beatings and abuse, including children, in addition to the insults and profanity that the detainee receives during his assault.
Persecutions and terrorism
In light of the attack on the Palestinians by the occupation army and its settlers, the Permanent Representative of Palestine to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, sent three identical letters to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, the President of the Security Council, and the President of the United Nations General Assembly, “about the continuation of Israel, the occupying power.” “In deliberately targeting Palestinian children.”
The letter stated, “Children in the Gaza Strip are exposed to killing, wounding, mutilation, starvation, orphanage, displacement, and disease and cold, while children in the West Bank are exposed to persecution and terror by soldiers and colonizers, in addition to being shot, beaten, arrested, and tortured.”
Mansour appealed to the international community, including the Security Council, including its Group on Children in Armed Conflict, the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, “to take immediate and very rapid action in accordance with international law.”