Friday, August 16, 2024, 12:24 PM
Dozens of radical settlers, some of them masked, have devastated the Palestinian village of Jit in the West Bank, where a 23-year-old man was killed and another wounded by gunfire. The army attributes the events to between fifty and a hundred extremists, who set fire to houses and vehicles. Israeli President Isaac Herzog did not hesitate to describe the attack as a “pogrom”, which has drawn condemnation from countries such as the United States, whose leader in the Middle East has confessed to being “horrified”.
The incident occurred on Thursday evening. The attackers stormed the village with extreme violence. Some of them were armed with firearms. As they passed through the town, located west of Nablus, they threw Molotov cocktails and stones at Palestinian property. At least four houses and half a dozen cars were reduced to ashes. Many residents fled in search of shelter.
The Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry said a 23-year-old Palestinian named Rasheed Seda was killed by “settler bullets.” Another civilian was seriously injured. Israeli police said the shooter(s) have not yet been located.
The Defence Forces deployed troops as well as Border Police officers to stop the incidents and protect residents. Some reports say the settlers behaved extremely harshly. Soldiers used riot gear and in some cases were forced to fire into the air to drive out the Israeli radicals. At least one individual was arrested but later released. Witnesses say the security forces intervened with considerable delay, a complaint not uncommon in previous incidents of this kind in the West Bank.
The army, together with the police and the Shin Bet national security agency, have launched an investigation into the unrest, which coincides with the holding of talks in Doha for a ceasefire in Gaza. The president and prime minister of Israel, as well as the White House, have quickly issued statements of condemnation. The Palestinian Authority spoke out on Friday, describing the assault on the West Bank village as an act of “organised state terrorism”.
«Rise up in arms»
Hamas, which is not directly involved in the negotiations but is participating through a proxy dialogue, has not yet expressed its opinion. Islamic Jihad, on the other hand, has taken it as a “declaration of war” while the Palestinian movement Al-Mujahideen has called on “all those who can take up arms to rise up to thwart the criminal plans of the Israelis.” Al-Mujahideen claims that “the settlers besieged the village, burned property and shot at unarmed citizens,” which represents “a dangerous escalation of the Zionist aggression against our people.”
The attack has caused surprise and concern because of the repercussions it could have in the midst of a high-tension negotiation in Doha, but also because it is not known whether it could become the spark that starts new colonialist confrontations in Palestinian territory. Since the massacre caused by Islamist militias in the kibbutzim near Gaza on October 7, at least ten Palestinians have been beaten to death by Israelis occupying their land.
The latest wave of unrest occurred between 12 and 20 April, when at least eight West Bank villages were attacked, resulting in five deaths from gunfire, one of them a 17-year-old boy. As in the case of Jit, settlers set fire to homes, cars, garages and even tree plantations of Palestinian farmers, Amnesty International reported.
The United States has described the start of the ceasefire talks as “promising.” This Friday, the second day of what many consider the last chance to reach peace and free the hostages has just begun. The negotiations could also lead to an escalation of war in the region if Iran decides to bomb Israel. This is why the White House is concerned about any possible altercation between Israelis and Palestinians. In addition to Washington’s disapproval, its ambassador to Israel has expressed “dismay” and has pointed out that the attacks “must stop and the criminals must be held accountable.”
The Israeli Defense Forces, which has been accused of passivity by civil rights organizations in previous incidents, has also issued its own statement condemning the attack. Aside from “undermining security, law and order,” the army has warned that the rioters are diverting troops from “their primary mission of thwarting terrorism” in the Strip, where for the second day in a row the military has urged civilians to evacuate Khan Jounis.
But the harshest criticism has come from the Israeli president himself. Isaac Herzog has described the devastation in Khit as the “pogrom of Samaria,” the name of the biblical province in the northern West Bank. He has blamed the destruction on “an extremist minority that harms the law-abiding settler population, colonization as a whole, and Israel in the world.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has warned that “those responsible for any criminal act will be arrested and prosecuted.”
The ultras disassociate themselves
The extremist faction of the government is the strongest defender of the colonisation of the West Bank. The raid took place one day after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the demarcation of a 60-hectare plot of land for the construction of a new settlement in the West Bank. Smotrich, a far-right politician whom the US describes as a “danger” to the peace talks and the release of hostages, announced months ago his intention to build five new settlements and this is the first of them, which will occupy Palestinian farmland. West Bank sources have stressed that the operation violates the rules imposed by the UN.
The minister said the attack on Jit was “in no way connected to the settlement enterprise or the settlers,” but rather to groups of “anarchist violence” and “criminals that the police authorities must punish with the full weight of the law.” Other far-right leaders have also been quick to dissociate the Israeli settlers from the “terrorists” who have razed the village.
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