Security forces have adopted a “let off steam” policy to minimize their confrontation with the settlers, according to a report by Haaretz.
Settlers taking a walk on Shuhada Street in Hebron, 2010. (Stella via Wikimedia)
The number of violent attacks committed by illegal Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied territories nearly doubled in the first six months of 2021 compared to the same period a year earlier, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Oct. 3.
According to the report, 416 incidents of settler violence against Palestinians were reported from January to June this year. In 2019, there were 363 such incidents in the entire year. In 2020, the cases went up to 507.
The violence against Palestinians includes individual or coordinated physical attacks, sometimes leading to severe injuries and even murder, vandalism of properties and fields and stone-pelting.
According to the report, in 2021, at least 23 Palestinians were injured in such attacks by the settlers.
Israel has created hundreds of illegal settlements inside the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. More than 700,000 Israelis live in land appropriated from the Palestinians illegally in complete violation of UN resolutions and established international laws of occupation.
Hebron, West Bank, 2011. (Tali C., BTS, Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Settlers motivated by Zionist colonial projects call the Palestinians “encroachers” and attack them to expand the Israeli settlements causing further displacement of Palestinians. Members of settler groups like Hilltop Boys and Price Tag have even been prosecuted in some cases of murder of Palestinians.
Though the settlements are illegal, successive Israeli governments have provided them full security. The country has recently started following a policy of minimum interference during the violent attacks on Palestinians.
According to the Haaretz report, the security forces called it a “Let off Steam” policy to create a “permissive atmosphere” to minimize their confrontation with the settlers.
Please Support CN’s Fall Fund Drive!
The report came in the context of Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups Peace Now and Breaking the Silence launching a campaign against the rising settler violence. They attempted to run ads on public transport demanding accountability from the Israeli government to curb settler violence.
The campaign was launched after a 3-year-old Palestinian child, Mohammad Hamamdah, was wounded in one such attack on Sept. 28 in a Palestinian village near Hebron. Scores of settlers vandalized Palestinian properties and attacked people during the attack, injuring at least 12 other Palestinians.
However, the bus companies in Israel refused to carry on the campaign citing “public sensitivities” under pressure from Zionist groups who called the campaign “divisive.”
This article is from Peoples Dispatch.
Please Support Our
Fall Fund Drive!
Donate securely with PayPal
Or securely by credit card or check by clicking the red button:
This is simply a continuation of Israel’s policies from the beginning, and plans for the future.
It’s way past time to take Israel away from the Zionists.
That settlers also participate in the apartheid and robbery is a testimony to the greed and seared consciences of the citizens. It is like conservatives here in the US supporting the police while there is clearly systemic racism in the justice system. To turn a blind eye to the evils in your government is bad enough. But to mimic its worst behaviors in your own actions is a step further, and makes you as guilty as your government. Furthermore, the silence in addressing government evils is another form of participation as well. The Israeli Jews (except those that do protest, and there are some there that do- and are persecuted for doing so) are as guilty as Israel’s government.
How amazingly like the worst villains during the fascist era.
Watch what you say about the IDF on Facebook. Facebook will put you in jail!
Is it any wonder that a country/government founded on the backs of slaves and on land from Florida to the beaches of California, Oregon and Washington stolen by force of arms from Native People who lived on and possessed these lands would support a like thieving Zionist government of Israel!
Stop calling the Israelis “settlers”. They are invaders. Support BDS.
I totally agree with you!