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SvennoJ on 15 August 2024
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Footage shows attempts to extinguish fires set by settlers in West Bank village

Footage authenticated by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification unit shows Palestinians attempting to put out fires started by Israeli settlers during a rampage in the occupied West Bank village of Jit, east of Qalqilya.

We previously reported that one person had been detained in connection with Thursday’s night-time attack on the Palestinian village, in which a local resident was killed.

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has repeatedly encouraged the establishment of settlements in the occupied West Bank, and which are illegal under international law, said the attacks were in “no way related to the settlement and the settlers”.

Smotrich called the perpetrators “criminals who should be dealt with by the law enforcement authorities with the full severity of the law”.

Israeli military investigating Palestinian killed in settler rampage in occupied West Bank

The Israeli military says they are investigating two separate attacks in the occupied West Bank by armed Israeli settlers. The first on the village of Jit and the second on the town of Huwara.

In the first attack on Jit, at least one Palestinian was killed. According to the Health Ministry, he is a 23-year-old Palestinian man and around a dozen others were injured. The Israeli army is looking into the death of the 23-year-old to see if he was shot by the Israeli military or by the settlers.

There has been reaction pouring in from across the Israeli political aisle. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement saying that those who participated in the attacks will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.

The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, echoed that sentiment.

But we also heard from Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who called it “criminal, anarchist violence”, which is quite a change in tone from Smotrich, who is a known ultranationalist who lives in an illegal settlement himself and is often a defender of these armed groups.

Just last year, when a deadly attack on the town of Huwara took place, he responded by saying “Huwara should be wiped off the map”.

Israeli settler attacks often carried out ‘under the protection’ of Israeli army

Settler attacks on Palestinians are not a new phenomenon.

In fact, they have only increased since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza 10 months ago. The UN has documented at least 1,140 of these attacks that resulted in several deaths and injuries to Palestinians.

Oftentimes, these attacks are carried out under the protection of the Israeli military, and Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are left defenceless against armed settlers who live in illegal settlements, and the Israeli military that protects them.


Is this virtue signalling, finding a scapegoat to divert attention to the systematic issue. Or had Biden had enough and is making real threats for Israel to clean up its act. Or did this group of settlers go behind the backs of the IDF. Confusing.