Anger in West Bank over surge in killings of Palestinians by settlers
Maher Bani Fadel, 56, shuffles through a crowd of men and boys, doing his best not to show any emotion as neighbours utter the words no father wants to hear.
“May God accept your son’s martyrdom,” say the mostly Bedouin residents of Aqraba in the occupied West Bank.
Mr Bani Fadel nods, pulls up a chair and explains the events surrounding his son’s death the day before. He says he saw Israeli settlers attack the town.
Soon after, he heard that his son Abdurahman was one of two Aqraba residents killed.
Issa, another of his sons, was severely wounded. Two other residents were injured.
Mr Bani Fadel’s face finally cracks when he explains how he will remember his boy: “Mashallah, he was very kind. He worked in the fields as a shepherd. He loved it and loved taking care of the land.”
The Aqraba killings come after days of intensified violence between Palestinians and settlers. On Friday, 14-year-old Israeli Binyamin Achimair was reported missing from an illegal shepherding outpost near Ramallah. Hundreds of armed settlers spent the weekend rampaging through the West Bank in response, attacking Palestinians and vandalising property. Binyamin’s body was found on Saturday, sparking more attacks.
Aqraba’s Mayor, Salahuddin Jaber, was among the first to learn about Monday’s assault, in which residents say about 50 settlers attacked members of the community of Khirbet Al Tawil on the town’s outskirts.
“The settlers behaved savagely,” says Mr Jaber. “They kicked the bodies. I will remember that image until the day I die. What does it mean to kill someone and then kick his body? It means you are treating them worse than animals.”
Days on from the Aqraba killings, Mr Jaber and Mr Bani Fadel are locked in a complex negotiation to get the bodies of the two men back from Israeli authorities. Yousef Direyeh, the paramedic who was first on the scene, said Israeli police and soldiers stopped him from taking the dead because they wanted to document what happened.
“On my way there I started hearing shooting – loads of shooting. I had to drive even faster. People were waving at me to go faster, saying there were martyrs. But as I got closer others told me to hold back because the settlers were shooting at everyone,” he says.
The town is now furious because Palestinian officials who co-ordinate with Israeli authorities say the latter will only release the bodies after autopsies are performed.
People in Aqraba were deeply suspicious of these procedures and said they would much prefer to have Palestinian doctors perform them.
But by Tuesday, Mr Bani Fadel, along with the father of Mohammad Bani Jame, the other victim, had decided to travel to the settlement of Ariel to sign permission for the autopsies to go ahead. It is the only way they believe they can get the bodies back.
Much of the occupied West Bank has felt hopeless and dejected in the months since October 7. Increased Israeli raids, settler violence and catastrophic economic conditions are taking a heavy toll.
But on Tuesday, Aqraba was busy. Residents were angry that people in the normally quiet town risk death if they go into their fields. “We are innocent people under Israeli terrorist attacks,” Mr Jaber says, shuffling papers on his desk as he prepares to receive the governor of the Nablus region.