West Bank attacks: ‘The settlers can do whatever they like’
Yariv Oppenheimer, from the Israeli group Peace Now, says images emerging of attacks by Israeli settlers guarded by police in the occupied West Bank are disturbing.
“As an Israeli, I’m ashamed of the pictures and ashamed of the behaviour of the police and army. The police are being controlled by the ultra-right-wing racist political party of Itamar Ben-Gvir. The settlers attacking the Palestinians know they can do it without being arrested, without paying the price,” Oppenheimer told Al Jazeera.
He noted police officers are not only allowing the attacks, they’re going after and arresting Palestinian victims in the besieged West Bank.
“In previous years, we had pressure coming from the United States about these kinds of incidents. Now with the Trump administration, you don’t hear one word of criticism coming from Washington. The international pressure is very limited, and the outcome of that is the settlers can do whatever they like.”
Occupied West Bank attacks by settlers are ‘government policy’
It’s the policy of the far-right Israeli government to expel Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, and illegal settlers are leading the charge, an Israeli peace activist says.
“The settlers are attacking specific locations in which they’d like to see these communities giving up and moving away,” Yariv Oppenheimer from the group Peace Now told Al Jazeera. “It’s a policy, not just attacks.”
But he said there’s “encouraging news” as more and more Israelis come together to demonstrate against the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“It’s not only about the hostages in Gaza, it’s also about the internal democracy issues and legislation of the government,” Oppenheimer said. “And there is some encouraging news coming from the negotiation table. Next to the fighting, there is some kind of progress and we might see some result as well.”
