Settler violence forces 'largest' Palestinian displacement since Oct 7
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Allegra Pacheco, head of the NRC-led West Bank Protection Consortium (WBPC), says that Israeli authorities, as the occupying power, are directly responsible for the actions of these violent settlers.
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Palestinians inspect a burnt car following a deadly settler attack on Jit, occupied West Bank on August 16, 2024. (AFP)
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has urged the international community to intervene and protect Palestinian communities from increased Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank.
Since the war on Gaza began in October, settler violence has led to the largest wave of forced displacements of Palestinians. Settlers have attacked homes, established new outposts, and obstructed water access, resulting in the displacement of 119 Palestinians from three communities in the past ten days.
Two communities, al-Farsiya Khallet Khader and al-Farisiya al-Zu'bi, have been entirely depopulated, while only one family remains in the third community, Ein al-Hilweh – Um al-Jmal.
Allegra Pacheco, head of the NRC-led West Bank Protection Consortium (WBPC), stated that Israeli authorities, as the occupying power, are directly responsible for the actions of these violent settlers.
“These attacks, occurring in broad daylight under the watching eyes and the protective force of the Israeli military, highlight the unlawfulness of Israel’s presence in the West Bank, as recently ruled by the International Court of Justice. Palestinians are being forced to leave their land in what clearly constitutes a grave breach of international humanitarian law," she said.
In the al-Maleh region of the northeastern West Bank, 18 communities supported by the WBPC are either already displaced or face imminent risk of displacement. Nearly a quarter of a million euros in humanitarian aid provided by the WBPC is at risk, with some aid having been destroyed or looted by settlers.
‘We’ll come back and kill you’: Settlers tell Jit residents after raid
Only last week, over 100 Israeli settlers attacked the West Bank village of Jit, setting fire to Palestinian homes and cars while armed with guns and Molotov cocktails. The violence drew condemnations from the US, UK, France, and Germany, as well as the UN and the EU Foreign Policy chief, calling them "unacceptable".
The settlers, going on a rampage, shot and killed a Palestinian youth.
Residents recounted the aggression, with Hassan Arman describing that the aim of the Israeli settlers who attacked his village was "to burn, kill, or destroy," all of which occurred that night.
The settlers were donned "in full uniform, armed with knives, a machine gun, and a silencer," Arman said, recalling the scene of when the attackers reached his home. The Palestinian man's car was also set on fire and destroyed during the raid, stating he had "never seen anything like it" when he opened the burnt vehicle door.
“After they burned the house there, they came to this house, broke the windows, and threw firebombs — Molotov cocktails — inside,” 38-year-old father of five, Muawiya al-Sada told Reuters, detailing the burnt wooden frame of the sofa and the glass shards littering the floor.
Upon returning to his home with his family, Sada recalled the settlers' taunts, asserting, "We will come back and kill you!" while telling them to leave for Jordan or Syria.
23-year-old Rasheed Seda was shot and killed during the violent settler aggression on Jit while he was attempting to fend off the attackers with a group of young locals, the head of Jit's local council and the martyr's relative, Nasser Seda, told Ynet news website.
“If our young people hadn’t gone out to try to repel the settlers, it could have been a much greater disaster,” Seda said.
Sed'a funeral was held on Friday, where he was carried through the streets while wrapped in the Palestinian flag.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry called the Jit attack "organized state terrorism," describing the settlers' rampage as a serious escalation in ongoing crimes against Palestinians. It demanded "deterrent sanctions against the racist colonial system, the dismantling of terrorist settler gangs, and the prosecution of their members."
