According to Israeli human rights activists, there were more cases of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank in 2023 than in previous years. Last year set a negative record.
Nine Palestinians have been killed by settlers in the occupied West Bank since the Hamas massacre on October 7 alone, Israeli human rights group Yesh Din said on the X platform, formerly Twitter, on Monday.
Colonists killed ten people
Since logging began in 2006, there has never been as much violence among settlers as last year, the report said. A total of ten people were killed in settler violence in the West Bank in 2023. According to the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem, Israeli civilians killed at least five Palestinians in the West Bank the year before.
According to human rights activists, last year was a record year, also in terms of the intensity of violence and the number of Israeli settlers involved.
Serious riots characterized 2023
In February, for example, hundreds of Israeli settlers attacked the town of Huwara, setting fire to houses and cars. Following a fatal attack on two Israeli brothers, there were serious riots by Israeli settlers there and in neighboring towns in February. One Palestinian was killed and hundreds were injured.
Throughout the year, human rights activists reported more than 1,200 cases. There is also a trend not to report cases to the police. This is likely due to a “policy of leniency and dismissal of cases of ideologically motivated crimes by Israelis against Palestinians in the West Bank.”
Crimes go unpunished
According to the organization, only three percent of all investigations lead to charges. She also made serious accusations against the leaders: “Settler violence is the policy of the Israeli government.”
According to Israeli media, the number of attacks by Palestinian assassins on Israeli civilians and security forces in the West Bank has increased over the past year and a half.
Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War. Hundreds of thousands of settlers now live there among the approximately three million Palestinians. The Palestinians claim the areas for their own state.
Source: Krone
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