Israeli settler violence tool to seize land: NGO
JERUSALEM: Israel has been using setler violence as a “major informal tool” to drive Palestinians from farming and pasture lands in the occupied West Bank, an Israeli rights group said on Sunday.
A report by the group B’tselem detailed the takeover of nearly 30 square kilometres of farm and pasture land in the territory by setlers over the past five years. That’s an area around half the size of the island of Manhatan.
B’tselem also challenged repeated claims by the government that violence against Palestinians is carried out by a violent fringe among the setlers and security forces are doing their best to stop it.
B’tselem said the military “does not prevent the atacks, and in some cases, soldiers even participate in them.” It says that law enforcement does litle to take action against setlers who commit violent acts against Palestinians “and whitewashes the few cases it is called upon to address.” “When the violence occurs with permission and assistance from the Israeli authorities and under its auspices, it is state violence. The setlers are not defying the state; they are doing its bidding,” the organisation said in its report.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
On Friday, a group of Jewish setlers atacked Palestinians harvesting olives who were accompanied by Israeli activists. Two Israelis, including a prominent rabbi and peace activist, were injured in the incident.
Neta Ben Porat, one of the injured activists, said she suffered injuries to her head and arm. She said the entire area is video monitored by the army, and soldiers chose not to come to their aid.
The military said in a statement to Army Radio that troops “separated between the sides and dispersed the confrontation” and arrested three setlers.
Rabbis for Human Rights in Israel said in a statement on Friday that “the state and its enforcement agencies are failing time ater time to ensure the safety of farmers and activists in the harvest, and the blood spilled today is also on their hands.” Last month, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz called on the military to combat rising setler atacks against Palestinians and Israeli troops in the West Bank to react “systematically, aggressively and uncompromisingly” to such behaviour.
Recent months have seen a steep increase in violence commited by Jewish setlers in the West Bank against Palestinians.
Last week, a group of Israeli setlers vandalised dozens of cars in a town near Ramallah, and in September, dozens of Israeli setlers atacked a Bedouin village in the southern West Bank, leaving several injured, including a Palestinian toddler.