Attachments
The situation in the occupied West Bank is a matter of grave concern as Israel allows and facilitates an environment characterized by fear forcing communities from their homes and lands. Settlers, acting with the protection and support of Israeli security forces, are escalating violent attacks on herding communities in the South Hebron Hills, Jordan Valley, and East Jerusalem that have been encircled by settlements and outposts. In incidents monitored by UN Human Rights Office, settlers have attacked women and children in or near their homes, set fire to and vandalized property, stolen livestock, and destroyed infrastructure to prevent the community’s access to water. Alongside demolitions carried out by the Israeli Civil Administration, such attacks are forcing Palestinians to leave their lands. This, in turn, aids consolidation and expansion of Israeli settlements and outposts in the areas.
On midnight of July 4, more than 200 Israeli settlers, reportedly from Avigayil outpost, attacked the herding community of Khallet Al-Daba, Masafer Yatta for about 4 hours, setting fire to fields, burning one home and damaging four others, assaulting Palestinians with sticks and stones, destroying 30 solar panels, a water pump and an electric generator, damaging four vehicles, and stealing over 80 of their livestock, the community’s main source of income. According to eyewitnesses, Israeli Forces (IF) did nothing to stop the settlers. Also, in the South Hebron Hills, settlers, reportedly from the Shorashim outpost, have attacked daily in the past week the Palestinian herding community of Umm Al-Khair to force them to leave. Similarly, on July 1, settlers attacked with stones, sticks, and pepper spray and injured seven Palestinians, including four women, a 5-year-old girl, and a 17-year-old boy, again in the presence of ISF. Also, on July 3, settlers broke down the water pump that supplies the community with water. This set of incidents followed a large-scale demolition carried out on June 26 by the Israeli Civil Administration, which demolished three residential structures, two animal pens, and a community centre, forcibly displacing 27, including 15 children, according to OCHA.
East of Jerusalem, the herding community of Khilet Al Sidra, Mikhmas, has since October 7 come under increased pressure from settlers by surrounding outposts and settlements who have obstructed their access to grazing land, cut water supplies and physically and verbally attacked the community and threatened to harm them if they don’t leave. On June 26, a mob of Israeli settlers protected and supported by ISF, allegedly stole around 20 sheep from a one of the herders by claiming that they were theirs and had mingled with the ones belonging to Palestinians. After the incident, the Palestinian community moved their livestock to Mikhmas village and other areas, imposing further hardship on them and risks making their livelihood unsustainable.
In the Jordan Valley, on June 22-June 23, Israeli settlers and IF raided the herding community of Ras Ein ˈAl-Auja alleging that the community had stolen livestock from settlers. Reflecting a new trend of attacks, settlers and ISF, went through the animal pens and seized 13 sheep alleging that they were theirs, which the community denies. ISF arrested six Palestinian community members including a woman and a child who showed up first in the location during the raid, shot in the air towards Palestinians and fired tear gas.
According to monitoring by the UN Human Rights Office, such attacks fit within long-standing trends of organized violence against Palestinians committed with impunity and with the backing of IF but reflect an increase in intensity and overt state support since October 7. This fresh wave of settler attacks also comes as Israel’s government takes overt measures that could facilitate the annexation of Palestinian land in violation of international law, including through declarations of massive swathes of land as “State land” for the development of settlements 1 , the retroactive “legalization” of outposts and establishment of new settlements2 , including over 5000 housing units on July 5, demolitions of Palestinian homes, as well as the transfer of administrative powers over the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, from the Israeli military authority to Israeli government offices. 3
ENDS
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1 Israel announces largest appropriation of state land in West Bank since Oslo Accords | The Times of Israel
2 Israel approves three settlement outposts, thousands of homes in West Bank | Gaza News | Al Jazeera
3 IDF transfers powers in occupied West Bank to pro-settler civil servants | Israel | The Guardian